TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie
A1  - Bhatara, Anjali
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Effects of musicality on the perception of rhythmic structure in speech
JF  - Laboratory phonology
N2  - Language and music share many rhythmic properties, such as variations in intensity and duration leading to repeating patterns. Perception of rhythmic properties may rely on cognitive networks that are shared between the two domains. If so, then variability in speech rhythm perception may relate to individual differences in musicality. To examine this possibility, the present study focuses on rhythmic grouping, which is assumed to be guided by a domain-general principle, the Iambic/Trochaic law, stating that sounds alternating in intensity are grouped as strong-weak, and sounds alternating in duration are grouped as weak-strong. German listeners completed a grouping task: They heard streams of syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and had to indicate whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong pattern. Moreover, their music perception abilities were measured, and they filled out a questionnaire reporting their productive musical experience. Results showed that better musical rhythm perception - ability was associated with more consistent rhythmic grouping of speech, while melody perception - ability and productive musical experience were not. This suggests shared cognitive procedures in the perception of rhythm in music and speech. Also, the results highlight the relevance of - considering individual differences in musicality when aiming to explain variability in prosody perception.
KW  - Musical ability
KW  - rhythm
KW  - grouping
KW  - Iambic/Trochaic law
KW  - speech
KW  - speech perception
KW  - musicality
KW  - prosody
KW  - domain-general
KW  - German
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5334/labphon.91
SN  - 1868-6346
SN  - 1868-6354
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
PB  - Ubiquity Press
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie
A1  - Bhatara, Anjali
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Processing of rhythm in speech and music in adult dyslexia
JF  - Brain Sciences
N2  - Recent studies have suggested that musical rhythm perception ability can affect the phonological system. The most prevalent causal account for developmental dyslexia is the phonological deficit hypothesis. As rhythm is a subpart of phonology, we hypothesized that reading deficits in dyslexia are associated with rhythm processing in speech and in music. In a rhythmic grouping task, adults with diagnosed dyslexia and age-matched controls listened to speech streams with syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and indicated whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong rhythm pattern. Additionally, their reading and musical rhythm abilities were measured. Results showed that adults with dyslexia had lower musical rhythm abilities than adults without dyslexia. Moreover, lower musical rhythm ability was associated with lower reading ability in dyslexia. However, speech grouping by adults with dyslexia was not impaired when musical rhythm perception ability was controlled: like adults without dyslexia, they showed consistent preferences. However, rhythmic grouping was predicted by musical rhythm perception ability, irrespective of dyslexia. The results suggest associations among musical rhythm perception ability, speech rhythm perception, and reading ability. This highlights the importance of considering individual variability to better understand dyslexia and raises the possibility that musical rhythm perception ability is a key to phonological and reading acquisition.
KW  - developmental dyslexia
KW  - Iambic/Trochaic Law
KW  - rhythmic grouping
KW  - musicality
KW  - speech perception
KW  - rhythm perception
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10050261
SN  - 2076-3425
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie
A1  - Bhatara, Anjali
A1  - Unger, Annika
A1  - Nazzi, Thierry
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Effects of experience with L2 and music on rhythmic grouping by French listeners
JF  - Bilingualism : language and cognition.
KW  - rhythmic grouping
KW  - second language acquisition
KW  - prosody
KW  - musicality
KW  - Iambic
KW  - Trochaic Law
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000425
SN  - 1366-7289
SN  - 1469-1841
VL  - 19
SP  - 971
EP  - 986
PB  - Cambridge Univ. Press
CY  - New York
ER  -