Abstract
Background
Atypical activity in the salience network (SN) and default mode network (DMN) has
been previously reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However,
no study to date has investigated the nature and dynamics of the interaction between
these two networks in ASD.
Methods
Here, we aimed to characterize the functional connectivity between the SN and the
DMN by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Autism
Brain Imaging Data Exchange and comparing individuals with ASD (n = 325) to a typically developing group (n = 356). We examined static and dynamic levels of functional connectivity using the
medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) seed as a core region of the DMN.
Results
We found that individuals with ASD have higher mPFC connectivity with the insula,
a core region of the SN, when compared with the typical development group. Moreover,
the mPFC-insula coupling showed less variability in ASD compared with the typical
development group. A novel semblance-based network dynamic analysis further confirmed
that the strong mPFC-insula coupling in the ASD group reduced spontaneous attentional
shift for possible external elements of the environment. Indeed, we found that excessive
mPFC-insula coupling was significantly associated with a tendency for reduced social
responsiveness.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that the internally oriented cognition in individuals with
ASD may be due to excessive coupling between the DMN and the SN.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 17, 2021
Accepted:
November 30,
2021
Received in revised form:
October 4,
2021
Received:
May 11,
2021
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2021 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
