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Updated: Jul 14, 2025
Probing the Brain in Autism Using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Published on: September 12, 2011
EEG functional connectivity in infants at elevated familial likelihood for autism spectrum disorder
Christian O'Reilly1,2,3, Scott Huberty4, Stefon van Noordt5
1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA. christian.oreilly@sc.edu.
Insights
This study found no direct link between infant brain connectivity and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in early development. Exploratory analysis suggested a potential connection between repetitive behaviors and brain connectivity, requiring further research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is linked to atypical brain connectivity, but developmental trajectories in infancy are not well understood.
- Early identification and understanding of neurodevelopmental differences in infants at high familial risk for ASD are crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of functional brain connectivity in infancy.
- To examine associations between functional connectivity and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) likelihood in early life.
Main Methods:
- Utilized high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) data from two infant sibling cohorts at 6 and 12 months of age.
- Assessed functional connectivity using the corrected imaginary part of phase-locking values between cortical sources during video viewing.
- Included infants with typical development and those with elevated likelihood for ASD based on having an older sibling with ASD.
Main Results:
- No significant association was found between functional connectivity and ASD diagnosis across the infant sample.
- Significant effects were observed for age, sex, age-sex interaction, and study site on functional connectivity.
- Exploratory analysis at 12 months revealed a negative correlation between functional connectivity and autism diagnostic scores for restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRB).
Conclusions:
- Current findings are inconclusive regarding a direct association between EEG functional connectivity and ASD in infancy.
- Exploratory results suggest a preliminary link between RRB and functional connectivity, warranting further investigation in larger, independent cohorts.
- Limitations include a small sample size for diagnostic group comparisons and the exploratory nature of secondary findings, increasing the risk of false positives.
Background:
Many studies have reported that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with atypical structural and functional connectivity. However, we know relatively little about the development of these differences in infancy.
Methods:
We used a high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) dataset pooled from two independent infant sibling cohorts, to characterize such neurodevelopmental deviations during the first years of life. EEG was recorded at 6 and 12 months of age in infants at typical (N = 92) or elevated likelihood for ASD (N = 90), determined by the presence of an older sibling with ASD. We computed the functional connectivity between cortical sources of EEG during video watching using the corrected imaginary part of phase-locking values.
Results:
Our main analysis found no significant association between functional connectivity and ASD, showing only significant effects for age, sex, age-sex interaction, and site. Given these null results, we performed an exploratory analysis and observed, at 12 months, a negative correlation between functional connectivity and ADOS calibrated severity scores for restrictive and repetitive behaviors (RRB).
Limitations:
The small sample of ASD participants inherent to sibling studies limits diagnostic group comparisons. Also, results from our secondary exploratory analysis should be considered only as potential relationships to further explore, given their increased vulnerability to false positives.
Conclusions:
These results are inconclusive concerning an association between EEG functional connectivity and ASD in infancy. Exploratory analyses provided preliminary support for a relationship between RRB and functional connectivity specifically, but these preliminary observations need corroboration on larger samples.
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