# Musical Rhythm Sensitivity to Scaffold Social  Engagement in Autism Spectrum Disorder

> **NIH NIH R61** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $563,078

## Abstract

We recently demonstrated that a critical infant adaptive social behavior -- looking into the eyes of an engaging
caregiver -- obeys a fundamental biological principle of ‘entrainment’: Infant eye-looking entrains (or becomes
time-locked) to the rhythmic social cueing of a caregiver during social musical interactions of infant-directed
singing. Equally importantly, caregivers structure their own child-directed behavior to enhance this rhythmic cuing
and facilitate the delivery and receipt of meaningful social information. These results inform basic mechanisms
of typical social development as well as disruptions in social development in children with ASD. A common and
lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder, individuals with ASD exhibit impairments in social and communicative
functioning that require specialized support. In pilot data for the current proposal, we observe that toddlers with
ASD show attenuated, though present, rhythmic entrainment to predictable child-directed singing. The current
project builds upon our findings of rhythmic social entrainment during infancy to advance mechanistic
understanding of rhythmic entrainment in social development in typically developing toddlers and those with
ASD, as well as propose rhythmic entrainment as an active ingredient of music-based interventions for social
communication in toddlers with ASD. In the R61, we first quantify the effects of rhythmic entrainment to child-
directed singing in toddlers with and without ASD (R61 Aim 1) and examine predictability as a driver of this
entrainment (R61 Aim 2). Successfully establishing rhythmic entrainment during predictable social musical
engagement (Go/No-Go criteria) will provide strong evidence of a potential fundamental role of rhythm sensitivity
in social entrainment. In the R33, we measure the extent to which individual levels of rhythmic entrainment in
ASD are mechanistic predictors of response to music-enhanced and standard evidence-based naturalistic
developmental behavioral interventions for ASD (R33 Aim 3). Establishing malleability in social rhythm sensitivity
is a crucial step for identifying potential mechanisms of change for future investigations of music-based
treatments for functional social communication outcomes in ASD. In alignment with RFA-AT-19-001, Promoting
Research on Music and Health, this project will facilitate rigorous studies of child health and development and
musical interventions. Through examination of the principles of social entrainment afforded by natural social
musical interactions, this research has implications for basic mechanisms of disrupted interpersonal synchrony
in ASD, while also identifying potential targets of active engagement for the development of music-based
interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10016775
- **Project number:** 5R61MH123029-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Warren Jones
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $563,078
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-11 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10016775

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10016775, Musical Rhythm Sensitivity to Scaffold Social  Engagement in Autism Spectrum Disorder (5R61MH123029-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10016775. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*