| Examining the validity of the use of ratio IQs in psychological assessments | 10.15154/1522624 | IQ tests are amongst the most used psychological assessments, both in research and clinical settings. For participants who cannot complete IQ tests normed for their age, ratio IQ scores (RIQ) are routinely computed and used as a proxy of IQ, especially in large research databases to avoid missing data points. However, because it has never been scientifically validated, this practice is questionable. In the era of big data, it is important to examine the validity of this widely used practice. In this paper, we use the case of autism to examine the differences between standard full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and RIQ. Data was extracted from four databases in which ages, FSIQ scores and subtests raw scores were available for autistic participants between 2 and 17 years old. The IQ tests included were the MSEL (N=12033), DAS-II early years (N=1270), DAS-II school age (N=2848), WISC-IV (N=471) and WISC-V (N=129). RIQs were computed for each participant as well as the discrepancy (DSC) between RIQ and FSIQ. We performed two linear regressions to respectively assess the effect of FSIQ and of age on the DSC for each IQ test, followed by additional analyses comparing age subgroups as well as FSIQ subgroups on DSC. Participants at the extremes of the FSIQ distribution tended to have a greater DSC than participants with average FSIQ. Furthermore, age significantly predicted the DSC, with RIQ superior to FSIQ for younger participants while the opposite was found for older participants. These results question the validity of this widely used alternative scoring method, especially for individuals at the extremes of the normal distribution, with whom RIQs are most often employed. | 141/17423 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| The importance of low IQ to early diagnosis of autism | 10.15154/1528140 | Some individuals can flexibly adapt to life’s changing demands while others, in particular those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), find it challenging. The origin of early individual differences in cognitive abilities, the putative tools with which to navigate novel information in life, including in infants later diagnosed with ASD remains unexplored. Moreover, the role of intelligence quotient (IQ) vis-à-vis core features of autism remains debated. We systematically investigate the contribution of early IQ in future autism outcomes in an extremely large, population-based study of 8,000 newborns, infants, and toddlers from the US between 2 and 68 months with over 15,000 cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments, and for whom autism outcomes are ascertained or ruled out by about 2-4 years. This population is representative of subjects involved in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research, mainly on atypical development, in the US. Analyses using predetermined age bins showed that IQ scores are consistently lower in ASD relative to TD at all ages (p<0.001), and IQ significantly correlates with calibrated severity scores (total CSS, as well as non-verbal and verbal CSS) on the ADOS. Note, VIQ is no better than the full-scale IQ to predict ASD cases. These findings raise new, compelling questions about potential atypical brain circuitry affecting performance in both verbal and nonverbal abilities and that precede an ASD diagnosis. This study is the first to establish prospectively that low early IQ is a major feature of ASD in early childhood. | 138/6323 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Prognostic early snapshot stratification of autism based on adaptive functioning | 10.15154/0z1c-1d37 | A major goal of precision medicine is to predict prognosis based on individualized information at the earliest possible points in development. Using early snapshots of adaptive functioning and unsupervised data- driven discovery methods, we uncover highly stable early autism subtypes that yield information relevant to later prognosis. Data from the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA) (n = 1,098) was used to uncover three early subtypes (<72 months) that generalize with 96% accuracy. Outcome data from NDA (n = 2,561; mean age, 13 years) also reproducibly clusters into three subtypes with 99% generalization accuracy. Early snapshot subtypes predict developmental trajectories in non-verbal cognitive, language and motor domains and are predictive of membership in different adaptive functioning outcome subtypes. Robust and prognosis- relevant subtyping of autism based on early snapshots of adaptive functioning may aid future research work via prediction of these subtypes with our reproducible stratification model. | 176/3517 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Psychometric Analysis of the Social Communication Questionnaire Using an Item-Response Theory Framework: Implications for the Use of the Lifetime and Current Forms | 10.15154/1158938 | The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was developed as a screener of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To date, the majority of the SCQ utility studies focused on its external validity (e.g., ROC curve analyses), but very few have addressed the internal validity issues. With samples consisting of 2,134 individuals available from the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR), the current study examined the factor structure, item-level characteristics, and measurement equivalence of the SCQ forms (i.e., Lifetime form and Current form) using both the classical true score theory and the item response theory (IRT). While our findings indicate sufficient psychometric properties of the SCQ Lifetime form, measurement issues emerged with respect to the SCQ Current form. These issues include lower internal consistencies, a weaker factor structure, lower item discriminations, significant pseudo-guessing effects, and subscale-level measurement bias. Thus, we caution researchers and clinicians about the use of the SCQ Current form. In particular, it seems inappropriate to use the Current form as an alternative to the Lifetime form among children younger than 5 years old or under other special situations (e.g., teacher-report data), although such practices were advised by the publisher of the SCQ. Instead, we recommend modifying the wording of the Lifetime form items rather than switching to the Current form where a 3-month timeframe is specified for responding to SCQ items. Future studies may consider investigating the association between the temporality of certain behaviors and the individual’s potential for being diagnosed with ASD, as well as the age neutrality of the SCQ. | 277/2054 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Unravelling the Collective Diagnostic Power Behind the Features in the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule | 10.15154/1421921 | Background: Autism is a group of heterogeneous disorders defined by deficits in social interaction and communication. Typically, diagnosis depends on the results of a behavioural examination called the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Unfortunately, administration of the ADOS exam is time-consuming and requires a significant amount of expert intervention, leading to delays in diagnosis and access to early intervention programs. The diagnostic power of each feature in the ADOS exam is currently unknown. Our hypothesis is that certain features could be removed from the exam without a significant reduction in diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity or specificity.
Objective: Determine the smallest subset of predictive features in ADOS module-1 (an exam variant for patients with minimal verbal skills).
Methodology: ADOS module-1 datasets were acquired from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange and the National Database for Autism Research. The datasets contained 2572 samples with the following labels: autism (1763), autism spectrum (513), and non-autism (296). The datasets were used as input to 4 different cost-sensitive classifiers in Weka (functional trees, LADTree, logistic model trees, and PART). For each classifier, a 10-fold cross validation was preformed and the number of predictive features, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity was recorded.
Results & Conclusion: Each classifier resulted in a reduction of the number of ADOS features required for autism diagnosis. The LADtree classifier was able to obtain the largest reduction, utilizing only 10 of 29 ADOS module-1 features (96.8% accuracy, 96.9% sensitivity, and 95.9% specificity). Overall, these results are a step towards a more efficient behavioural exam for autism diagnosis.
| 101/1832 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Imbalanced social-communicative and restricted repetitive behavior subtypes in autism spectrum disorder exhibit different neural circuitry | 10.15154/1524418 | Social-communication (SC) and restricted repetitive behaviors (RRB) are autism diagnostic symptom domains. SC and RRB severity can markedly differ within and between individuals and may be underpinned by different neural circuitry and genetic mechanisms. Modeling SC-RRB balance could help identify how neural circuitry and genetic mechanisms map onto such phenotypic heterogeneity. Here, we developed a phenotypic stratification model that makes highly accurate (97–99%) out-of-sample SC = RRB, SC > RRB, and RRB > SC subtype predictions. Applying this model to resting state fMRI data from the EU-AIMS LEAP dataset (n = 509), we find that while the phenotypic subtypes share many commonalities in terms of intrinsic functional connectivity, they also show replicable differences within some networks compared to a typically-developing group (TD). Specifically, the somatomotor network is hypoconnected with perisylvian circuitry in SC > RRB and visual association circuitry in SC = RRB. The SC = RRB subtype show hyperconnectivity between medial motor and anterior salience circuitry. Genes that are highly expressed within these networks show a differential enrichment pattern with known autism-associated genes, indicating that such circuits are affected by differing autism-associated genomic mechanisms. These results suggest that SC-RRB imbalance subtypes share many commonalities, but also express subtle differences in functional neural circuitry and the genomic underpinnings behind such circuitry. | 167/1708 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Derivation of Brain Structure Volumes from MRI Neuroimages hosted by NDAR using C-PAC pipeline and ANTs | 10.15154/1165646 | An automated pipeline was developed to reference Neuroimages hosted by the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) and derive volumes for distinct brain structures using Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs) and the Configurable-Pipeline for the Analysis of Connectomes (C-PAC) platform. This pipeline utilized the ANTs cortical thickness methodology discuessed in "Large-Scale Evaluation of ANTs and Freesurfer Cortical Tchickness Measurements" [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24879923] to extract a cortical thickness volume from T1-weighted anatomical MRI data gathered from the NDAR database. This volume was then registered to an stereotaxic-space anatomical template (OASIS-30 Atropos Template) which was acquired from the Mindboggle Project webpage [http://mindboggle.info/data.html]. After registration, the mean cortical thickness was calculated at 31 ROIs on each hemisphere of the cortex and using the Desikan-Killiany-Tourville (DKT-31) cortical labelling protocol [http://mindboggle.info/faq/labels.html] over the OASIS-30 template.
**NOTE: This study is ongoing; additional data my be available in the future.**
As a result, each subject that was processed has a cortical thickness volume image and a text file with the mean thickness ROIs (in mm) stored in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Simple Storage Service (S3). Additionally, these results were tabulated in an AWS-hosted database (through NDAR) to enable simple, efficient querying and data access.
All of the code used to perform this analysis is publicly available on Github [https://github.com/FCP-INDI/ndar-dev]. Additionally, as a computing platform, we developed an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that comes fully equipped to run this pipeline on any dataset. Using AWS Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2), users can launch our publicly available AMI ("C-PAC with benchmark", AMI ID: "ami-fee34296", N. Virginia region) and run the ANTs cortical thickness pipeline. The AMI is fully compatible with Sun Grid Engine as well; this enables users to perform many pipeline runs in parallel over a cluster-computing framework. | 38/1428 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Sensorimotor variability distinguishes early features of cognition in toddlers with autism | 10.15154/qfej-cf04 | The potential role of early sensorimotor features to atypical human cognition in autistic children has received surprisingly little attention given that appropriate movements are a crucial element that connects us to other people. Crucially it is sensorimotor function prior to the development of autism which would be of most interest in terms of establishing causal links. We examined movements acquired during natural sleep in over 200 toddlers recruited for neuroimaging studies, months before they were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or were ascertained as typically developing. We show there are significant correlations between objective, quantitative features of the distribution of head speed in the scanner (coefficient of variance and skewness) and subsequent cognitive abilities (intelligence quotient, IQ) in these children. Relative to higher-IQ ASD toddlers, those with lower-IQ had significantly altered sensorimotor features. Remarkably, we found that higher cognitive abilities in autistic toddlers confer resilience to atypical movement, as sensorimotor features in higher-IQ ASD toddlers were indistinguishable from those of typically developing healthy control toddlers. In a second set of analyses, we examined general motor skills assessed using observational instruments during wakefulness in an independent sample of over 1,000 infants and toddlers who received ASD diagnoses by 3-4 years. We detected significantly lower motor scores for lower-IQ vs. higher IQ autistic children, at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months. We suggest that the altered movement patterns may affect key autistic behaviors in those with lower intelligence by affecting sensorimotor learning mechanisms. Atypical sensorimotor functioning is a novel, key feature in lower-IQ early childhood autism. | 11/1078 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Revising the Social Communication Questionnaire scoring procedures for Autism Spectrum Disorder and potential Social Communication Disorder | 10.15154/1195993 | In analyzing data from the National Database for Autism Research, we examine revising the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), a commonly used screening instrument for Autism Spectrum Disorder. A combination of Item Response Theory and Mokken scaling techniques were utilized to achieve this and abbreviated scoring of the SCQ is suggested. The psychometric sensitivity of this abbreviated SCQ was examined via bootstrapped Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Additionally, we examined the sensitivity of the abbreviated and total scaled SCQ as it relates to a potential diagnosis of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (SCD). As SCD is a new disorder introduced with the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), we identified individuals with potential diagnosis of SCD among individuals with ASD via mixture modeling techniques using the same NDAR data. These analyses revealed two classes or clusters of individuals when considering the two core areas of impairment among individuals with ASD: social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. | 97/889 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Brain-based sex differences in autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan: A systematic review of structural MRI, fMRI, and DTI findings | 10.15154/1522486 | Females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been long overlooked in neuroscience research, but emerging evidence suggests they show distinct phenotypic trajectories and age-related brain differences. Sex-related biological factors (e.g., hormones, genes) may play a role in ASD etiology and have been shown to influence neurodevelopmental trajectories. Thus, a lifespan approach is warranted to understand brain-based sex differences in ASD. This systematic review on MRI-based sex differences in ASD was conducted to elucidate variations across the lifespan and inform biomarker discovery of ASD in females. We identified articles through two database searches. Fifty studies met criteria and underwent integrative review. We found that regions expressing replicable sex-by-diagnosis differences across studies overlapped with regions showing sex differences in neurotypical (NT) cohorts, in particular regions showing NT male>female volumes. Furthermore, studies investigating age-related brain differences across a broad age-span suggest distinct neurodevelopmental patterns in females with ASD. Qualitative comparison across youth and adult studies also supported this hypothesis. However, many studies collapsed across age, which may mask differences. Furthermore, accumulating evidence supports the female protective effect in ASD, although only one study examined brain circuits implicated in “protection.” When synthesized with the broader literature, brain-based sex differences in ASD may come from various sources, including genetic and endocrine processes involved in brain “masculinization” and “feminization” across early development, puberty, and other lifespan windows of hormonal transition. Furthermore, sex-related biology may interact with peripheral processes, in particular the stress axis and brain arousal system, to produce distinct neurodevelopmental patterns in males and females with ASD. Future research on neuroimaging-based sex differences in ASD would benefit from a lifespan approach in well-controlled and multivariate studies. Possible relationships between behavior, sex hormones, and brain development in ASD remain largely unexamined. | 1/759 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Predictors of self-injurious behaviour exhibited by individuals with autism spectrum disorder | 10.15154/1226464 | Presence of an autism spectrum disorder is a risk factor for development of self-injurious behaviour (SIB) exhibited by individuals with developmental disorders. The most salient SIB risk factors historically studied within developmental disorders are level of intellectual disability, communication deficits and presence of specific genetic disorders. Recent SIB research has expanded the search for risk factors to include less commonly studied variables for people with developmental disorders: negative affect, hyperactivity and impulsivity. | 1/589 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Face-processing performance is an independent predictor of social affect as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule across large-scale datasets | 10.15154/1520631 | Face-processing deficits, while not required for the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), have been associated with impaired social skills—a core feature of ASD; however, the strength and prevalence of this relationship remains unclear. Across 445 participants from the NIMH Data Archive, we examined the relationship between Benton Face Recognition Test (BFRT) performance and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Social Affect (ADOS-SA) scores. Lower BFRT scores (worse face-processing performance) were associated with higher ADOS-SA scores (higher ASD severity)–a relationship that held after controlling for other factors associated with face processing, i.e., age, sex, and IQ. These findings underscore the utility of face discrimination, not just recognition of facial emotion, as a key covariate for the severity of symptoms that characterize ASD. | 224/445 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Derivation of Quality Measures for Structural Images by Neuroimaging Pipelines | 10.15154/1149599 | Using the National Database for Autism Research cloud platform, MRI data were analyzed using neuroimaging pipelines that included packages available as part of the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC) Computational Environment to derive standardized measures of MR image quality. Structural QA was performed according to Haselgrove, et al (http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fninf.2014.00052/abstract) to provide values for Signal to Noise (SNR) and Contrast to Noise (CNR) Ratios that can be compared between subjects within NDAR and between other public data releases. | 38/423 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Derivation of Brain Structure Volumes from MRI Neuroimages hosted by NDAR using NITRC-CE | 10.15154/1149600 | A draft publication is in progress.
GitHub repository with code for working with NDAR Data is available here: https://github.com/chaselgrove/ndar
**Note this study is ongoing; additional may be added.** | 38/356 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Derivation of Quality Measures for Time-Series Images by Neuroimaging Pipelines | 10.15154/1149598 | Using the National Database for Autism Research cloud platform, MRI data were analyzed using neuroimaging pipelines that included packages available as part of the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC) Computational Environment to derive standardized measures of MR image quality. Time series QA was performed according to Friedman, et al. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16952468) providing values for Signal to Noise Ratio that can be compared to other subjects. | 71/356 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| The Sensitivity and Specificity of the Social Communication Questionnaire for Autism Spectrum Disorder with Respect to Age | 10.15154/1195992 | Scientific Abstract
The Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) assesses communication skills and social functioning in screening for symptoms of autism-spectrum disorder (ASD). The SCQ is recommended for individuals between 4 to 40 years with a cutoff score of 15 for referral. Mixed findings have been reported regarding the recommended cutoff score’s ability to accurately classify an individual as at-risk for ASD (sensitivity) versus an individual as not at-risk for ASD (specificity). Based on a sample from the National Database for Autism Research (n=344; age: 1.58 to 25.92 years old), the present study examined the SCQ’s sensitivity versus specificity across a range of ages. We recommend that the cutoff scores for the SCQ be re-evaluated with age as a consideration.
Lay Abstract
The age neutrality of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) was examined as a common screener for ASD. Mixed findings have been reported regarding the recommended cutoff score’s ability to accurately classify an individual as at-risk for ASD (sensitivity) versus accurately classifying an individual as not at-risk for ASD (specificity). With a sample from the National Database for Autism Research, the present study examined the SCQ’s sensitivity versus specificity. Analyses indicated that the actual sensitivity and specificity scores were lower than initially reported by the creators of the SCQ. | 6/339 | Secondary Analysis | Shared |
| Distinctive Neural Processes during Learning in Autism | 10.15154/1223861 | This functional magnetic resonance imaging study compared the neural activation patterns of 18 high-functioning individuals with autism and 18 IQ-matched neurotypical control participants as they learned to perform a social judgment task. Participants learned to identify liars among pairs of computer-animated avatars uttering the same sentence but with different facial and vocal expressions, namely those that have previously been associated with lying versus truth-telling. Despite showing a behavioral learning effect similar to the control group, the autism group did not show the same pattern of decreased activation in cortical association areas as they learned the task. Furthermore, the autism group showed a significantly smaller increase in interregion synchronization of activation (functional connectivity) with learning than did the control group. Finally, the autism group had decreased structural connectivity as measured by corpus callosum size, and this measure was reliably related to functional connectivity measures. The findings suggest that cortical underconnectivity in autism may constrain the ability of the brain to rapidly adapt during learning. | 32/32 | Primary Analysis | Shared |
| The neural basis of deictic shifting in linguistic perspective-taking in high-functioning autism | 10.15154/1223860 | Personal pronouns, such as 'I' and 'you', require a speaker/listener to continuously re-map their reciprocal relation to their referent, depending on who is saying the pronoun. This process, called 'deictic shifting', may underlie the incorrect production of these pronouns, or 'pronoun reversals', such as referring to oneself with the pronoun 'you', which has been reported in children with autism. The underlying neural basis of deictic shifting, however, is not understood, nor has the processing of pronouns been studied in adults with autism. The present study compared the brain activation pattern and functional connectivity (synchronization of activation across brain areas) of adults with high-functioning autism and control participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a linguistic perspective-taking task that required deictic shifting. The results revealed significantly diminished frontal (right anterior insula) to posterior (precuneus) functional connectivity during deictic shifting in the autism group, as well as reliably slower and less accurate behavioural responses. A comparison of two types of deictic shifting revealed that the functional connectivity between the right anterior insula and precuneus was lower in autism while answering a question that contained the pronoun 'you', querying something about the participant's view, but not when answering a query about someone else's view. In addition to the functional connectivity between the right anterior insula and precuneus being lower in autism, activation in each region was atypical, suggesting over reliance on individual regions as a potential compensation for the lower level of collaborative interregional processing. These findings indicate that deictic shifting constitutes a challenge for adults with high-functioning autism, particularly when reference to one's self is involved, and that the functional collaboration of two critical nodes, right anterior insula and precuneus, may play a critical role for deictic shifting by supporting an attention shift between oneself and others. | 29/29 | Primary Analysis | Shared |
| Autonomy of lower-level perception from global processing in autism: evidence from brain activation and functional connectivity. | 10.15154/1223859 | Previous behavioral studies have shown that individuals with autism are less hindered by interference from global processing during the performance of lower-level perceptual tasks, such as finding embedded figures. The primary goal of this study was to examine the brain manifestation of such atypicality in high-functioning autism using fMRI. Fifteen participants with high-functioning autism and fifteen age- and IQ-matched typical controls were asked to perform a lower-level perceptual line-counting task in the presence of a distracting depiction of a 3-D object, in which participants counted whether there were more red or more green contours (In a contrasting 3-D task, participants judged whether the same 3-D stimulus objects (but without color in any contours) depicted a possible or impossible 3-D object). We hypothesized that individuals with autism would be less likely than controls to process the global 3-D information (and would hence show fewer neural signs of such interfering 3-D processing) during the lower-level line-counting task. The fMRI results revealed that in the line-counting task, the autism group did not show the increased medial frontal activity (relative to the possibility task), or the increased functional connectivity between the medial frontal region and posterior visual-spatial regions, demonstrated by the control group. Both findings are indices of lesser effort and difficulty in the line-counting task for the autism group than for the control group, attributed to less interference from the 3-D processing in the autism group. In addition, in the line-counting task, the control group showed a positive correlation between a measure of spatial ability (Vandenberg scores) and activation in the medial frontal region, suggesting that more spatially able control participants did more suppression of the irrelevant 3-D background information in order to focus on the line-counting task. The findings collectively indicate that the global 3-D structure of the figure had a smaller effect, if any, on local processing in the group with autism compared to the control group. The results from this study provide the first direct neural evidence of reduced global-to-local interference in autism. | 27/27 | Primary Analysis | Shared |
| Cortical underconnectivity coupled with preserved visuospatial cognition in autism: Evidence from an fMRI study of an embedded figures task. | 10.15154/1223858 | Individuals with high-functioning autism sometimes exhibit intact or superior performance on visuospatial tasks, in contrast to impaired functioning in other domains such as language comprehension, executive tasks, and social functions. The goal of the current study was to investigate the neural bases of preserved visuospatial processing in high-functioning autism from the perspective of the cortical underconnectivity theory. We used a combination of behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional connectivity, and corpus callosum morphometric methodological tools. Thirteen participants with high-functioning autism and 13 controls (age-, IQ-, and gender-matched) were scanned while performing an Embedded Figures Task. Despite the ability of the autism group to attain behavioral performance comparable to the control group, the brain imaging results revealed several group differences consistent with the cortical underconnectivity account of autism. First, relative to controls, the autism group showed less activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal areas and more activation in visuospatial (bilateral superior parietal extending to inferior parietal and right occipital) areas. Second, the autism group demonstrated lower functional connectivity between higher-order working memory/executive areas and visuospatial regions (between frontal and parietal-occipital). Third, the size of the corpus callosum (an index of anatomical connectivity) was positively correlated with frontal-posterior (parietal and occipital) functional connectivity in the autism group. Thus, even in the visuospatial domain, where preserved performance among people with autism is observed, the neuroimaging signatures of cortical underconnectivity persist. | 17/17 | Primary Analysis | Shared |
