"We know that moving to a steady beat is a fundamental skill not only for music performance but one that has been linked to language skills," said Nina Kraus, of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois.
During their study, researchers studied 100 teenagers who were asked to tap their fingers to a beat and their accuracy in doing so was compared with the timing of metronome.
The team also measured brainwaves of participants using electrodes in order to comprehend the biological basis of rhythmic ability, using a technique called electroencephalography. They also observed the electrical activity in the brain in response to sound.
Researchers found that subjects who had a better musical training also experienced enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. "It turns out that kids who are poor readers have a lot of difficulty doing this motor task and following the beat. In both speech and music, rhythm provides a temporal map with signposts to the most likely locations of meaningful input," Prof Kraus said.