Maladaptive Laterality in Cortical Networks Related to Social Communication in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Neuroimaging studies of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) consistently find an aberrant pattern of reduced laterality in brain networks that support functions related to social communication and language. However, it is unclear how the underlying functional organization of these brain networks is altered in ASD individuals. We tested four models of reduced laterality in a social communication network in 70 ASD individuals (14 females) and a control group of the same number of tightly matched typically developing (TD) individuals (19 females) using high-quality resting-state fMRI data and a method of measuring patterns of functional laterality across the brain. We found that a functionally defined social communication network exhibited the typical pattern of left laterality in both groups, whereas there was a significant increase in within- relative to across-hemisphere connectivity of homotopic regions in the right hemisphere in ASD individuals. Furthermore, greater within- relative to across-hemisphere connectivity in the left hemisphere was positively correlated with a measure of verbal ability in both groups, whereas greater within- relative to across-hemisphere connectivity in the right hemisphere in ASD, but not TD, individuals was negatively correlated with the same verbal measure. Crucially, these differences in patterns of laterality were not found in two other functional networks and were specifically correlated to a measure of verbal ability but not metrics of other core components of the ASD phenotype. These results suggest that previous reports of reduced laterality in social communication regions in ASD is because of the two hemispheres functioning more independently than seen in TD individuals, with the atypical right-hemisphere network component being maladaptive.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A consistent neuroimaging finding in individuals with ASD is an aberrant pattern of reduced laterality of the brain networks that support functions related to social communication and language. We tested four models of reduced laterality in a social communication network in ASD individuals and a TD control group using high-quality resting-state fMRI data. Our results suggest that reduced laterality of social communication regions in ASD may be because of the two hemispheres functioning more independently than seen in TD individuals, with atypically greater within- than across-hemisphere connectivity in the right hemisphere being maladaptive.