Talk on sensorimotor synchronization and literacy skills

MEMO team cordially invites you to the following ZOOM talk by
 

Csaba Kertész (1,2) and Ferenc Honbolygó (1,3) 
1 Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary  
2 Institute of Psychology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church, Budapest, Hungary. 
3 Brain Imaging Centre, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89541924886

Chair: Dezső Németh

Title: Tapping into literacy: first school year tapping predicts children's third-grade literacy skills
 

A growing body of research supports the relationship between children’s early sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) and literacy skills. Applying the SMS tasks to predict language and reading outcomes seems promising as it can be easily administered in kindergarten or in first grade as a screening test. In the present study, we tested 37 Hungarian children’s general cognitive abilities (verbal working memory, non-verbal reasoning and RAN), language and literacy skills (vocabulary, word reading, phonological awareness and spelling), spontaneous motor tempo and SMS performance in a longitudinal design in their first and third school year. The SMS task consisted of 3 metronome trials in three tempi (80, 120, 150 bpm) in a synchronization-continuation paradigm. Developmental changes in SMS measures were also examined. While children’s tapping showed improvement in their mean asynchrony with the exception of the 80 bpm trials, there was no significant change in consistency and continuation tapping success in this two-year period. We applied linear modelling to predict children’s third-grade reading, spelling and phonological awareness using their first-year cognitive, language and tapping measures. We found tapping consistency in 80 bpm trials to be a significant predictor of both word reading and spelling scores. Our results show that the relationship between sensorimotor synchronization and literacy skills persists throughout children’s third school year, and that the SMS task should be considered as an early screening tool for reading difficulties.