Musical rhythm processing has been increasingly associated with children’s reading and writing skills. However, most existing studies rely on cross-sectional designs, focus on pre-reading stages, and leave critical questions unanswered. It remains unclear how the rhythm–reading/writing link develops over time, which mechanisms sustain it, and whether rhythm-based training can causally enhance reading and writing acquisition. This project will address these gaps through a randomized controlled trial that combines behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Portuguese children aged 6–8 will be recruited from public school and randomly assigned to rhythm-based music training, Orff-based comprehensive training (active control), or no systematic training (passive control). Training will last ~9 months—one school year—and will be delivered in the regular school context. Children will undergo pre- and post-training assessments of rhythm, reading, writing and fine motor skills, alongside measures of cognition, motivation, and sociodemographics. Structural and functional MRI will examine the neural substrates of rhythm–reading/writing relationships. We hypothesize that rhythm predisposition predicts reading and writing outcomes, mediated by phonological processes (for basic reading and writing skills) and motor processes (for writing fluency), and that rhythm training will produce specific improvements in rhythm perception and synchronization, leading to gains in reading (and writing-related skills), and enhance motor skills, and writing fluency as a result. Orff-based training is expected to improve fine motor skills and, consequently, writing fluency. Brain correlates and plasticity are anticipated to reflect behavioral outcomes, particularly in auditory and motor regions. By clarifying causal links between rhythm and reading/writing skills, this study will advance theoretical models and inform evidence-based educational and clinical practices.

Learning to play music changes brain structure and function, and there is much interest in the idea that these changes might transfer to skills beyond music. Many studies examined if music training improves abilities such as speech and intelligence. However, remarkably little is known about potential transfer effects to social skills, notably the ability to process emotional voices and faces. This effect could be hypothesized from the fundamental link between music and social and emotion processes, and is of central theoretical and applied importance: for understanding brain plasticity, the neurocognitive links between music and socio-emotional abilities, and the potential of music as a therapeutic tool. This project asks if music training improves socio-emotional processing, focusing on three unresolved questions. First, we determine if adult musicians reliably outperform non-musicians at recognizing emotions, and establish the scope of the effect: is it limited to voices, or does it extend to the visual domain (faces)? Is it limited to formally trained individuals,or does it extend to musically sophisticated non-musicians, who developed music skills via informal engagement withmusic? This will clarify previous mixed findings and provide a mechanistic understanding of the effect. A new tool for measuring musical sophistication will be validated and made available to the community. Second, we will combine state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiological techniques to delineate the neural mechanisms of the effect. This includes examining how emotions are represented in the trained brain, modulations in the processing time course, and changes in functional connectivity and brain anatomy. This comprehensive approach will add critical new insights into how music drives plasticity. Third, we will conduct a longitudinal study in children to test the effects of a music training program on socio-emotional processing, including pre- and post- training ass...