Abnormalities of EEG Functional Connectivity and Effective Connectivity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

HIGHLIGHTS: What are the main findings? Our findings indicated that patients with ASD exhibited local hyper-connectivity of brain regions in functional connectivity and a significant decrease in effective connectivity across hemispheres. What is the implication of the main finding? These resting-state EEG connectivity abnormalities may help to find biomarkers of ASD. ABSTRACT: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder that interferes with normal brain development. Brain connectivity may serve as a biomarker for ASD in this respect. This study enrolled a total of 179 children aged 3−10 years (90 typically developed (TD) and 89 with ASD). We used a weighted phase lag index and a directed transfer function to investigate the functional and effective connectivity in children with ASD and TD. Our findings indicated that patients with ASD had local hyper-connectivity of brain regions in functional connectivity and simultaneous significant decrease in effective connectivity across hemispheres. These connectivity abnormalities may help to find biomarkers of ASD.