# Neurobiological  Markers of Rhythm:  Risk and Resilience for Language Acquisition

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $775,630

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY. Specific Language impairment (SLI) is a common, life-long communication disorder
characterized by difficulties acquiring grammar and vocabulary that affect children's quality of life, success in
school, and livelihood. There is an urgent need to increase identification and treatment of children with SLI.
Although SLI is known to be heritable, the underlying neurobiology of the disorder is not yet clear. Recent work
by the PI has shown robust associations between rhythm and grammar traits in children, pointing to rhythm
resilience as a variable involved in spoken grammar skills. Emerging evidence in the field points to co-morbid
rhythm deficits and grammatical deficits in SLI, pointing to weaknesses in rhythm sensitivity as an SLI risk
factor. Furthermore, rhythm and grammatical traits are both heritable, and both involve dynamically orienting
attention to hierarchical structure over time, but no prior study has directly compared the genetic basis of
rhythm and grammar. Here we take an understudied but promising approach to investigating potentially shared
genetic architecture to rhythm deficits and SLI. Since sound patterns (across species) used to communicate
are organized rhythmically, it is highly likely that present-day speech and language capacities are built on pre-
existing genetic architecture for communication, which may include the rhythmic aspect of communication.
Children with SLI may thus have heritable rhythm deficits that impair their ability (via common neurobiology) to
process the structure of language during grammatical acquisition. The present proposal integrates new
methods of genome analysis with rhythm cognition experiments aimed at understanding the mechanisms
underlying the potential contribution of rhythm deficits to SLI. Aim 1 harnesses large-sample bio-repositories
and extant data with Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) methodology to characterize the genetic
architecture of developmental language disorder. This approach allows us to construct the largest sample
sizes yet for developing a genetic prediction model for SLI and to investigate the clinical significance of genes
involved in SLI. Aim 2 utilizes a GWAS approach in a novel dataset to provide important new knowledge on the
genetic basis of rhythm. Armed with novel knowledge about the neurobiological markers of SLI and rhythm
deficits, we will then investigate a potential influence of rhythm on grammar-related traits (Aim 3a) and
grammar states (Aim 3b), using an innovative selection of genomic analyses and a series of targeted
laboratory experiments in children with SLI. By testing this framework of rhythm risk and resilience, these
studies lay essential groundwork for multiple future avenues of improving identification and treatment of
children with SLI. This project directly responds to NIDCD's call to identify genetic factors and co-occurring
conditions that contribute to language impairment and to develop biomarkers of SLI. Moreover, new...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852599
- **Project number:** 5R01DC016977-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Reyna Leigh Gordon
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $775,630
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2024-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852599

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852599, Neurobiological  Markers of Rhythm:  Risk and Resilience for Language Acquisition (5R01DC016977-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852599. Licensed CC0.

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