Patterns of connectome variability in autism across five functional activation tasks: findings from the LEAP project.
Tristan Looden, Dorothea L Floris, Alberto Llera and 7 others
PMID 36575450WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic individuals showed greater brain connectivity atypicality across five cognitive tasks compared to controls.
This atypicality was consistent across tasks and linked to speech and auditory networks. It correlated with behavioral measures of autism severity, suggesting a common neural pattern underlying diverse cognitive demands.
Key findings
01Individuals with autism exhibited significantly greater levels of global brain connectivity atypicality in all five tasks compared to typically developing controls.
02The spatial patterns of brain atypicality were highly similar across different cognitive tasks in the autism group, unlike the typically developing group.
03Brain atypicality scores were significantly related to behavioral measures of autism, forming a main axis of impairment rather than task-specific patterns.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study excluded individuals with an IQ below 75, so the findings may not apply to autistic people with intellectual disability. The results are based on cross-sectional data, so they cannot determine if these brain patterns cause behavioral symptoms or develop alongside them. The sample was predominantly male, which may limit generalizability to autistic women and girls. The 'task potency' measure relies on the assumption that resting-state connectivity is a valid baseline for all individuals, which may not hold true for those with significant sensory or attention difficulties during the scan.
Declared interests
The study was part of the EU-AIMS/AIMS-2-TRIALS Longitudinal European Autism Project. The authors declared no competing interests, and the work was supported by non-U.S. government funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret these brain imaging patterns as a diagnostic test or a direct cause of specific behaviors. The study shows a correlation between brain atypicality and behavioral severity, but it does not prove that the brain patterns cause the symptoms. Additionally, the findings are derived from a sample excluding those with intellectual disability, so they cannot be generalized to the entire autism spectrum.