In a collaborative study of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Max Planck Institute, researchers have discovered a close link between human language abilities and musical rhythm skills. This study provides better insights into genetic variants of these fundamental human traits.
The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, reveals overlapping genetic variants between music-related and language-related skills. This study used data from over 1 million individuals to identify the common genetic variants and explore their evolutionary significance.
The team revealed that genetic variants associated with rhythmic limitations are more likely to be associated with dyslexia. Vice versa, genetic variants related to better musical rhythm skills are linked to higher performance in language and reading tests.
For reference, rhythm skills can be measured by one’s ability to distinguish between tones in melodies or tapping with a rhythmic stimulus. Similarly, language-related skills can be quantified by sounding out words or spelling words quickly and correctly.
By combining statistics from multiple datasets and integrating brain data, researchers were able to explore how genes influencing rhythmic and language skills play a vital role in neural circuitry. Even though language and rhythm tasks involve different signals, the team showed overlapping of 16 genomes.
Additionally, co-author Yasmina Mekki proposed coinciding on chromosome 20, which is common to language networks and rhythm.
Researchers suspect these loci to harbor genetic variants that regulate gene expression in various types of brain cells. This result suggests complex genetic alterations and neurobiological connectivity shared by humans.
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“We were particularly intrigued by the finding of genetic variants jointly tied to rhythm and language as being enriched for oligodendrocytes in the brain,” Gordon said.
“Oligodendrocytes are a type of brain cell that help to maintain specific connections between brain areas by helping the connecting circuitry to stay healthy and strong.“
One of the previous studies in this field points out the brain’s specialty in maintaining strong connectivity between auditory and motor regions. These connections are hypothesized to have triggered the co-evolution of language and music abilities.
Since this study shares crossovers between rhythm and language skills, it could contribute to a better knowledge of the origin of these traits. Intriguingly, future medical applications may include treating based on impairments.
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Journal Reference
- Alagöz, G., Eising, E., Mekki, Y., Bignardi, G., Fontanillas, P., Nivard, M. G., Luciano, M., Cox, N. J., Fisher, S. E., & Gordon, R. L. (2024). The shared genetic architecture and evolution of human language and musical rhythm. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-15. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02051-y
