Rhythm Perception and Text Reading Fluency: Indirect Associations Through Pseudoword and Word Reading

A growing body of research has linked children’s rhythm processing to reading. However, it remains unclear whether rhythm processing relates differently to distinct reading skills and whether this pattern varies across levels of reading experience. We examined cross-sectional associations between musical rhythm perception and pseudoword, word, and text reading fluency in 305 European Portuguese-speaking children in Grades 1 to 4 (167 girls; Mage = 8.49 ± 1.19 years). Using structural path analysis, we tested indirect associations with text reading fluency through pseudoword reading alone and serially through pseudoword and word reading, and explored variation across grade-based levels of reading experience. Rhythm perception was positively associated with all three reading fluency measures. Adding direct paths from rhythm perception to word and text reading did not improve model fit. In the retained model, rhythm perception was indirectly associated with text reading through pseudoword reading alone and through the serial pseudoword-to-word pathway. Complementary analyses indicated that rhythm perception was most strongly associated with pseudoword reading. Multi-group analyses supported differences between Grades 1–2 and Grades 3–4, but no individual path or indirect association differed significantly between groups. Together, these findings highlight pseudoword reading as the reading skill most consistently associated with rhythm perception and suggest that decoding-related pathways may help account for its association with fluent text reading. Replication across distinct levels of reading experience and orthographies of varying consistency, together with longitudinal studies, is needed before generalizations or developmental and causal conclusions can be drawn.