The onset of reading ability is rife with individual differences, with some children termed “early readers” and some falling behind from the very beginning. Reading skill in children has been linked to an ability to remember nonverbal rhythms, specifically in the auditory modality. It has been hypothesized that the link between rhythm skills and reading reflects a shared reliance on the ability to extract temporal structure from sound. Here we tested this hypothesis by investigating whether the link between rhythm memory and reading depends on the modality in which rhythms are presented. We tested 75 primary school-aged children aged 7–11 years on a within-participants battery of reading and rhythm tasks. Participants received a reading efficiency task followed by three rhythm tasks (auditory, visual, and audiovisual). Results showed that children who performed poorly on the reading task also performed poorly on the tasks that required them to remember and repeat back nonverbal rhythms. In addition, these children showed a rhythmic deficit not just in the auditory domain but also in the visual domain. However, auditory rhythm memory explained additional variance in reading ability even after controlling for visual memory. These results suggest that reading ability and rhythm memory rely both on shared modality-general cognitive processes and on the ability to perceive the temporal structure of sound.

阅读能力的开始存在个体差异，有些孩子被称为“早期阅读者”，有些孩子从一开始就落后了。儿童的阅读技巧与记住非语言节奏的能力有关，特别是在听觉模式中。据推测，节奏技能和阅读之间的联系反映了对从声音中提取时间结构的能力的共同依赖。在这里，我们通过调查节奏记忆和阅读之间的联系是否取决于呈现节奏的方式来检验这一假设。我们对 75 名 7-11 岁的小学学龄儿童进行了一系列阅读和节奏任务。参与者接受了阅读效率任务，然后是三个节奏任务（听觉、视觉和视听）。结果表明，在阅读任务中表现不佳的儿童在要求他们记住和重复非语言节奏的任务上也表现不佳。此外，这些儿童不仅在听觉领域而且在视觉领域都表现出节律性缺陷。然而，即使在控制视觉记忆后，听觉节律记忆也解释了阅读能力的额外变化。这些结果表明，阅读能力和节奏记忆既依赖于共享的模态一般认知过程，也依赖于感知声音时间结构的能力。即使在控制视觉记忆后，听觉节律记忆也解释了阅读能力的额外变化。这些结果表明，阅读能力和节奏记忆既依赖于共享的模态一般认知过程，也依赖于感知声音时间结构的能力。即使在控制视觉记忆后，听觉节律记忆也解释了阅读能力的额外变化。这些结果表明，阅读能力和节奏记忆既依赖于共享的模态一般认知过程，也依赖于感知声音时间结构的能力。