Definition
Brain connectivity refers to both structural connections between distinct regions of the brain as well as coordinated functional activity within networks of different brain regions, which may or may not share direct structural connections. Structural and functional connectivity in the brain are interrelated in that altered structural connections can affect functional coordination within brain networks and altered functional activity can affect structural connections via adaptive changes from synaptic pruning and dendritic arborization. Although there is extensive evidence to support altered structural connectivity in the brain in individuals with autism (for a specific example, see “Corpus Callosum Abnormalities in Autism”), most brain connectivity theories of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focus on differences in functional connectivity (FC), defined as “temporal correlations between spatially...
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Hegarty, J.P., Hardan, A.Y., Müller, RA. (2019). Brain Connectivity Theories of Autism. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102064-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102064-1
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