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Published on: October 17, 2025
Disrupted neural synchronization in toddlers with autism
Ilan Dinstein1, Karen Pierce, Lisa Eyler
1Autism Center of Excellence, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. ilan.dinstein@weizmann.ac.il
Insights
Early autism is characterized by disrupted neural synchronization in sleeping toddlers. This weak brain connectivity correlates with language ability and autism severity, aiding early identification.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Autism Research
Background:
- Autism is frequently characterized as a disorder of neural synchronization.
- The developmental emergence of synchronization abnormalities and their link to early autistic behaviors remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the early emergence of neural synchronization abnormalities in toddlers with autism.
- To determine if these abnormalities correlate with early autistic behavioral symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of spontaneous cortical activity during natural sleep in toddlers.
- Assessment of interhemispheric synchronization (functional connectivity) in language-related brain areas.
- Correlation analysis between synchronization strength, verbal ability, and autism severity.
Main Results:
- Disrupted cortical synchronization was observed in sleeping toddlers with autism, but not in those with language delay or typical development.
- Toddlers with autism showed significantly weaker interhemispheric synchronization in language areas.
- Synchronization strength positively correlated with verbal ability and negatively with autism severity, enabling 72% identification of autistic toddlers with 84% accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Disrupted cortical synchronization is an early neurophysiological characteristic of autism.
- These findings suggest that synchronization abnormalities are present in very early stages of autism development.
- Early detection of disrupted neural synchronization may aid in identifying toddlers with autism.
Abstract:
Autism is often described as a disorder of neural synchronization. However, it is unknown how early in development synchronization abnormalities emerge and whether they are related to the development of early autistic behavioral symptoms. Here, we show that disrupted synchronization is evident in the spontaneous cortical activity of naturally sleeping toddlers with autism, but not in toddlers with language delay or typical development. Toddlers with autism exhibited significantly weaker interhemispheric synchronization (i.e., weak "functional connectivity" across the two hemispheres) in putative language areas. The strength of synchronization was positively correlated with verbal ability and negatively correlated with autism severity, and it enabled identification of the majority of autistic toddlers (72%) with high accuracy (84%). Disrupted cortical synchronization, therefore, appears to be a notable characteristic of autism neurophysiology that is evident at very early stages of autism development.
