Early alterations of social brain networks in young children with autism

Abstract

Social impairments are a hallmark of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but empirical evidence for early brain network alterations in response to social stimuli is scant in ASD. Here, we recorded the gaze patterns and brain activity of toddlers and preschoolers with ASD and their typically developing (TD) peers while they explored dynamic social scenes. Source-space directed functional connectivity analyses revealed the presence of network alterations in the theta frequency band, manifesting as increased driving (hyper-activity) and stronger connections (hyper-connectivity) from key nodes of the social brain associated with autism. Further analyses of brain-behavioural relationships within the ASD group suggested that compensatory mechanisms from dorsomedial frontal, inferior temporal and insular cortical regions were associated with lower clinical impairment and less atypical gaze patterns. Our results provide strong evidence that directed functional connectivity alterations of social brain networks is a core component of atypical brain development at early stages of ASD.