ERP evidence for the rhythmic priming effect in Mandarin grammatical processing and the role of individual...

The neural mechanisms underlying rhythmic priming, whereby regular musical rhythms enhance language processing, remain unclear, particularly regarding how individual differences shape these effects. A recent failure to replicate rhythmic priming behaviorally further raises questions about its robustness and modulating factors. Using event-related potentials, we investigated whether rhythmic priming affects grammatical processing in Mandarin Chinese and how individual differences modulate these neural responses. Thirty-two native Mandarin speakers completed a grammaticality judgment task while EEG was recorded. Participants heard regular or irregular musical rhythms before judging sentences containing aspectual marker violations. Individual differences in working memory capacity, rhythm processing abilities, and musical experience were assessed. Results revealed robust P600 effects to grammatical violations, with rhythmic primes significantly modulating neural responses. Notably, P600 effect magnitude was reduced following regular versus irregular primes, accompanied by faster behavioral response times. Post-hoc analyses revealed that regular rhythms may facilitate grammatical processing through enhanced predictive mechanisms. Critically, individual difference analyses indicated that participants with higher working memory capacity, as well as those with faster rhythmic perception speed, showed enhanced P600 effect following regular primes compared with irregular primes, while those with lower capacity or slower perception speed showed the reversed pattern. Furthermore, the rhythmic modulation effect was largely restricted to individuals with superior rhythmic abilities and more musical experience. These findings align with hypotheses derived from the Dynamic Attending Theory and further reveal how individual cognitive and musical profiles modulate the rhythm-language interactions.