Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting nearly 1 in 88 children, is thought to result from aberrant brain connectivity. Remarkably, there have been no systematic attempts to characterize whole-brain connectivity in children with ASD. Here, we use neuroimaging to show that there are more instances of greater functional connectivity in the brains of children with ASD in comparison to those of typically developing children. Hyperconnectivity in ASD was observed at the whole-brain and subsystems levels, across long- and short-range connections, and was associated with higher levels of fluctuations in regional brain signals. Brain hyperconnectivity predicted symptom severity in ASD, such that children with greater functional connectivity exhibited more severe social deficits. We replicated these findings in two additional independent cohorts, demonstrating again that at earlier ages, the brain of children with ASD is largely functionally hyperconnected in ways that contribute to social dysfunction. Our findings provide unique insights into brain mechanisms underlying childhood autism.
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•Children with ASD show functional hyperconnectivity across multiple brain regions•Both long- and short-range connections were predominantly hyperconnected in ASD•Brain hyperconnectivity was associated with enhanced levels of local fluctuations•ASD children with greater hyperconnectivity exhibited more severe social deficits
In this study, Supekar, Menon, and colleagues shed light on a longstanding question about the nature of brain connectivity aberrations in autism. Using functional neuroimaging data, they demonstrate that the brains of children with autism are hyperconnected in ways that are related to the severity of social impairment exhibited by these children. They replicate these findings in two additional cohorts of children, challenging current theories of brain connectivity in autism and providing unique insights into the brain mechanisms underlying the disorder.
