Abstract
BackgroundThe dimensional approach to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) considers ASD as the extreme of a dimension traversing through the entire population. We explored the potential utility of electroencephalography (EEG) functional connectivity as a biomarker. We hypothesized that individual differences in autistic traits of typical subjects would involve a long-range connectivity diminution within the delta band.MethodsResting-state EEG functional connectivity was measured for 74 neurotypical subjects. All participants also provided a questionnaire (Social Responsiveness Scale, SRS) that was completed by an informant who knows the participant in social settings. We conducted multivariate regression between the SRS score and functional connectivity in all EEG frequency bands. We explored modulations of network graph metrics characterizing the optimality of a network using the SRS score.ResultsOur results show a decay in functional connectivity mainly within the delta and theta bands (the lower part of the EEG spectrum) associated with an increasing number of autistic traits. When inspecting the impact of autistic traits on the global organization of the functional network, we found that the optimal properties of the network are inversely related to the number of autistic traits, suggesting that the autistic dimension, throughout the entire population, modulates the efficiency of functional brain networks.ConclusionsEEG functional connectivity at low frequencies and its associated network properties may be associated with some autistic traits in the general population.
Highlights
The dimensional approach to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) considers ASD as the extreme of a dimension traversing through the entire population
Most of the knowledge about ASD brain connectivity has been acquired through the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging; changes in connectivity based on stationary electroencephalography (EEG) measures can reliably discriminate between ASD and control populations [16]
The element (i,j) of the synchronisation likelihood (SL) matrix provides an estimate of the probability that the time series of electrodes i and j are related during eyes-closed stationary EEG, which we refer to as functional connectivity
Summary
The dimensional approach to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) considers ASD as the extreme of a dimension traversing through the entire population. Functional brain networks of ASD compared to typical subjects in the resting state (that is, during free thought) showed qualitatively different organizations at the group level, which broadly reflects a deficit in longrange connectivity, especially along the long-distance fronto-posterior axis [16,18]; see [19] for a review. There are theoretical and practical motivations for using the resting state to assess clinical populations [20,21] Of these there are the relatively short data-acquisition times, a simple setup, the subject does not need to be stimulated, behavioural responses do not need to be collected (allowing a broader sampling of patient populations) and a better signalto-noise ratio compared to task-related protocols [21]
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