title: Local functional overconnectivity in posterior brain regions is associated with symptom severity in autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Although growing evidence indicates atypical long-distance connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), much less is known about local connectivity, despite conjectures that local overconnectivity may be causally involved in the disorder. Using functional connectivity MRI and graph theory, we found that local functional connectivity was atypically increased in adolescents with ASD in temporo-occipital regions bilaterally. Posterior overconnectivity was found to be associated with higher ASD symptom severity, whereas an ASD subsample with low severity showed frontal underconnectivity. The findings suggest links between symptomatology and local connectivity, which vary within the autism spectrum.
authors.affiliation: Brain Development Imaging Laboratory, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92120, USA; Computational Science Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher Lee
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Keown
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Aarti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Mark Edward
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mulvey
authors.forename: Ralph-Axel
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology