naa a22 4500 528782444 20180924065513.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180924e20150828xx s 000 0 eng 10.3929/ethz-b-000104393 doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0137020 doi (ETHRESEARCH)oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/104393 Functional Organization of the Action Observation Network in Autism: A Graph Theory Approach [Elektronische Daten] [Kaat Alaerts, Franca Geerlings, Lynn Herremans, Stephan P. Swinnen, Judith Verhoeven, Stefan Sunaert, Nicole Wenderoth] PLoS ONE Open access ethresearch Background The ability to recognize, understand and interpret other's actions and emotions has been linked to the mirror system or action-observation-network (AON). Although variations in these abilities are prevalent in the neuro-typical population, persons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have deficits in the social domain and exhibit alterations in this neural network. Method Here, we examined functional network properties of the AON using graph theory measures and region-to-region functional connectivity analyses of resting-state fMRI-data from adolescents and young adults with ASD and typical controls (TC). Results Overall, our graph theory analyses provided convergent evidence that the network integrity of the AON is altered in ASD, and that reductions in network efficiency relate to reductions in overall network density (i.e., decreased overall connection strength). Compared to TC, individuals with ASD showed significant reductions in network efficiency and increased shortest path lengths and centrality. Importantly, when adjusting for overall differences in network density between ASD and TC groups, participants with ASD continued to display reductions in network integrity, suggesting that also network-level organizational properties of the AON are altered in ASD. Conclusion While differences in empirical connectivity contributed to reductions in network integrity, graph theoretical analyses provided indications that also changes in the high-level network organization reduced integrity of the AON. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 ethresearch Alaerts Kaat joint author Geerlings Franca joint author Herremans Lynn joint author Swinnen Stephan P. joint author Verhoeven Judith joint author Sunaert Stefan joint author Wenderoth Nicole joint author PLoS ONE Lawrence, Kan : Public Library of Science 10 (8), p. e0137020 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/104393 text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository (Open access) 1 Journal Article ethresearch ETHRESEARCH 856 40 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/104393 text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository (Open access) ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Alaerts Kaat joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Geerlings Franca joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Herremans Lynn joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Swinnen Stephan P. joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Verhoeven Judith joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Sunaert Stefan joint author ETHRESEARCH 700 1- Wenderoth Nicole joint author ETHRESEARCH 773 0- PLoS ONE Lawrence, Kan : Public Library of Science 10 (8), p. e0137020 1932-6203 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 ETHRESEARCH ETHRESEARCH ETHRESEARCH Journal Article Open access