Connectivity dynamics in typical development and its relationship to autistic traits and autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have provided significant insights into developmental trajectories of human brain function. Characterizations of typical neurodevelopment provide a framework for understanding altered neurodevelopment, including differences in brain function related to developmental disorders and psychopathology. Historically, most functional connectivity studies of typical and atypical development operate under the assumption that connectivity remains static over time. We hypothesized that relaxing stationarity assumptions would reveal novel features of both typical brain development related to children on the autism spectrum. We employed a "chronnectomic" (recurring, time-varying patterns of connectivity) approach to evaluate transient states of connectivity using resting-state functional MRI in a population-based sample of 774 6- to 10-year-old children. Dynamic connectivity was evaluated using a sliding-window approach, and revealed four transient states. Internetwork connectivity increased with age in modularized dynamic states, illustrating an important pattern of connectivity in the developing brain. Furthermore, we demonstrated that higher levels of autistic traits and ASD diagnosis were associated with longer dwell times in a globally disconnected state. These results provide a roadmap to the chronnectomic organization of the developing brain and suggest that characteristics of functional brain connectivity are related to children on the autism spectrum.

Evaluation of Differences in Temporal Synchrony Between Brain Regions in Individuals With Autism and Typical Development

“…However, a significant positive correlation was found between sustained connectivity and social impairment scores. Similarly, Rashid et al 14 found a link between dynamic functional connectivity and autistic traits assessed using the SRS. These findings also dovetail with electrophysiological results showing delayed auditory evoked responses in autism suggesting temporal prolongation of steady-state responses to stimuli.…”

“…In a study using a sliding-window approach to dynamic connectivity, increased intraindividual variability over time was observed, indicating less rapid switching between networks or states at somewhat longer temporal scales than we measured. 11,14 A recent report investigating lag structure in autism demonstrated differences in the relative lag of individual regions across the brain compared with typically developing control participants, additionally suggesting specific differences in lagged connectivity. 46 …”

“…Thus, increasing importance has been placed on exploring the dynamic relationship of functional connectivity in autism. 12,13,14 …”

Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reveals Abnormal Variability and Hyper‐connected Pattern in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…To compare state configuration between the ASD and TD groups, we computed two metrics for each state: MDT [Rashid et al, ] and probability of transition (PT). MDT was the average number of windows that were continuous on the time and attributed to the same state [Yao et al, ], and PT was computed as the number of transitions from other states to a specific state over total available transitions (the number of state changes).…”

Impact of acute sleep deprivation on dynamic functional connectivity states

“…focused thoughts in a population of healthy children(Marusak et al, 2017) Rashid et al (2018). demonstrated this state's close associations with high levels of autistic traits and autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.…”