# Is It About Speech or About Prediction? Testing Between Two Accounts of the Rhythm–Reading Link

## TL;DR

This study investigates whether rhythm helps reading through speech encoding or prediction, finding support for the speech encoding explanation.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence favoring the Temporal Sampling Framework over the Rhythm-as-Predictor hypothesis.

## Key findings

- Beat perception was linked to auditory encoding in Portuguese but not Greek participants.
- Time perception and sequence learning showed weak or no correlations across both groups.

## Abstract

Background/Objectives: The mechanisms underlying the positive association between reading and rhythmic skills remain unclear. Our goal was to systematically test between two major explanations: the Temporal Sampling Framework (TSF), which highlights the relation between rhythm and speech encoding, and a competing explanation based on rhythm’s role in enhancing prediction within visual and auditory sequences. Methods: We compared beat versus duration perception for their associations with encoding and sequence learning (prediction-related) tasks, using both visual and auditory sequences. We also compared these associations for Portuguese vs. Greek participants, since Portuguese stress-timed rhythm is more compatible with music-like beats lasting around 500 ms, in contrast to the syllable-timed rhythm of Greek. If rhythm acts via speech encoding, its effects should be more salient in Portuguese. Results: Consistent with the TSF’s predictions, we found a significant association between beat perception and auditory encoding in Portuguese but not in Greek participants. Correlations between time perception and sequence learning in both modalities were either null or insufficiently supported in both groups. Conclusions: Altogether, the evidence supported the TSF-related predictions in detriment of the Rhythm-as-Predictor (RaP) hypothesis.