Preschool musicality is associated with school-age communication abilities through genes related to rhythmicity

Abstract

Early-life musical engagement is an understudied but developmentally important and heritable precursor of later (social) communication and language abilities. This study aims to uncover the aetiological mechanisms linking musical to communication abilities. We derived polygenic scores (PGS) for self-reported beat synchronisation abilities (PGS_rhythmicity) in children (N≤6,737) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and tested their association with preschool musical (0.5-5 years) and school-age (social) communication and cognition-related abilities (9-12 years). We further assessed whether relationships between preschool musicality and school-age communication are shared through PGS_rhythmicity, using structural equation modelling techniques. PGS_rhythmicity were associated with preschool musicality (Nagelkerke-R²=0.70-0.79%), and school-age communication and cognition-related abilities (R²=0.08-0.41%), but not social communication. We identified links between preschool musicality and school-age speech- and syntax-related communication abilities as captured by known genetic influences underlying rhythmicity (shared effect β=0.0065(SE=0.0021), p=0.0016), above and beyond general cognition, strengthening support for early music intervention programmes.