Intrinsic visual-motor synchrony correlates with social deficits in autism

Description: We acquired resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans from 100, 8-12 year-old children (50 with Autism Spectrum Disorder) at Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI). Group independent component analysis was used to estimate functional connectivity between visual and motor systems. We also ran group ICA on a subsample of data provided by the University of Michigan (UM_1) to the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange. We included all male subjects from UM_1 for whom DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic Category was provided, who met our criteria for motion, and whose images were successfully registered to standard space (N = 25). We then restricted the TD sample to balance the two diagnostic groups according to Full Scale IQ, age, handedness and between volume head movement. For each sample, there are 5 maps representing two motor components and three visual components. These unthresholded maps are the result of entering participant-specific motor and visual components from the corresponding sample into one-sample t-tests.

Related article: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.08.029