Molecular Autism最新文献

{"title":"Correction: Germline nuclear-predominant Pten murine model exhibits impaired social and perseverative behavior, microglial activation, and increased oxytocinergic activity.","authors":"Nick Sarn, Stetson Thacker, Hyunpil Lee, Charis Eng","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00740-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00740-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13560260/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148930513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Neuroglia in the autistic brain: evidence from a preclinical model.","authors":"Maria Rosanna Bronzuoli, Roberta Facchinetti, Davide Ingrassia, Michela Servadio, Sara Schiavi, Luca Steardo, Alexei Verkhratsky, Viviana Trezza, Caterina Scuderi","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00738-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00738-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13531898/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148874738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting early intervention outcomes in autism via individual participant data mega-analysis.","authors":"Veronica Mandelli, Elena Maria Busuoli, Michel Godel, Nada Kojovic, Yana Sinai-Gavrilov, Tali Gev, Annarita Contaldo, Eric Courchesne, Karen Pierce, Ofer Golan, Antonio Narzisi, Filippo Muratori, Costanza Colombi, Sally J Rogers, Giacomo Vivanti, Marie Schaer, Liliana Ruta, Michael V Lombardo","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00736-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00736-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Autism early intervention meta-analyses have yielded important insights into questions such as 'what works' and 'for what' outcomes. However, because these studies primarily rely on study-level summary statistics, they may be limited with regard to more individualized insights. Mega-analyses utilizing individual participant data (IPD-MA) may be useful for these more individualized questions.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted an IPD-MA on the Autism Early Intervention Research (AEIR) consortium dataset, comprising n = 582 autistic children (n = 121 female) across 11 datasets collected in clinical and community settings in the USA, Switzerland, Italy, Israel, and Australia. Children received between 3 and 27 months of early intervention (age at start 13-60 months) of varying intensity. Of these datasets, one originates from a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Another 7 datasets are paired up into 5 separate controlled-group design studies, while the remaining 3 datasets come from uncontrolled pre-post design studies. Early Start Denver Model (ESDM; n = 281, 62 female) was compared against non-ESDM treatment-as-usual/community approaches (n = 301, 59 female) (e.g., speech and occupational therapy, applied behavioral analysis, pivotal response training). Outcome variables were Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) age-equivalent scores, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) standardized scores, and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) calibrated severity scores.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Predictors such as sex and cumulative intervention intensity were largely not associated with change in outcomes. Age at intervention start and pre-intervention developmental quotient (DQ) were strong moderators across all outcomes. Earlier age at intervention start predicted more positive outcomes, while higher pre-intervention DQ predicted accelerated growth on VABS motor and MSEL outcome measures. Interventions were similar in their effects on MSEL and VABS outcomes. However, for ADOS outcomes, ESDM resulted in significantly declining trajectories over time, with the sharpest decline for high pre-intervention DQ individuals. In contrast, ADOS trajectories in non-ESDM diverge in opposite directionalities (i.e. increases or decreases) depending on individual's pre-intervention DQ.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>Data for the IDP-MA was contributed on a voluntary basis and only 1 study was contributed from an RCT. Therefore, the findings may be prone to self-selection bias that may limit generalizability. Inferences from the intervention type comparison (ESDM versus non-ESDM) may be limited due to the heterogeneous approaches lumped together in the non-ESDM category. Larger sample sizes are required for finer-grained comparisons of different intervention types.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Age at intervention start and pre-intervention DQ are key individualized predictors and the latter can int","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13440085/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148679176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Serum and cerebral folate are normal in Down Syndrome Regression Disorder.","authors":"Jonathan D Santoro, Mackenzie Silverman, Lilia Kazerooni, Samuel T Otey, Maeve C Lucas, Mariam M Yousuf, Mellad M Koshnood, Noemi A Spinazzi, Eileen A Quinn, Catherine Franklin, Taryn R Liu, Shafali S Jeste, Michael S Rafii","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00733-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00733-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13422345/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148630949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social enhancement of associative learning in neurotypical, speaking autistic, and minimally speaking autistic preschoolers.","authors":"Eleonora Paolizzi, Loredana Orsili, Meagan Talbott, Gioia Cavalli, Aubyn C Stahmer, Nancy Raitano Lee, Diana L Robins, Giacomo Vivanti","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00735-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00735-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Associative learning, defined as the ability to form connections between events based on temporal or spatial contiguity, is typically enhanced by social stimuli. Whether social stimuli similarly enhance associative learning in autism, particularly among minimally speaking children, is unknown. This study examined social enhancement of associative learning in neurotypical (NT), autistic preschoolers who use spoken language (ASD-S), and minimally speaking autistic (ASD-MS) preschoolers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Seventy-two children aged 24-56 months (19 NT, 30 ASD-S, 23 ASD-MS) completed a novel eye-tracking task. During 4 learning trials, neutral cues were associated with the appearance of a social or a non-social stimulus in different areas of the screen. In subsequent test trials, only the neutral cue was shown, allowing assessment of (a) associative learning (i.e., preferential looking toward the previously paired area of the screen) and (b) enhancement of associative learning in the social condition. General linear models evaluated group differences across conditions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>When the neutral cue was paired with the social stimulus, during the test trial NT and ASD-S preschoolers looked longer toward the area where the social stimuli had previously appeared, compared to the area associated with the non-social stimulus (NT: p < .001; ASD-S: p = .04). In contrast, ASD-MS preschoolers showed no significant difference in their attention to the areas previously associated with social or non-social stimuli. Analyses focused on differential scores (attention toward the social-paired location minus the non-social-paired location) significantly favored the social condition in NT (p = .005) and ASD-S children (p = .007), but not in ASD-MS children. Between-group comparisons showed greater social enhancement in NT compared with ASD-MS preschoolers (p = .03).</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>The social stimuli used in the experiment may not fully capture the complexity of everyday social interactions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Social stimuli enhanced associative learning in neurotypical and speaking autistic preschoolers, but not in their minimally speaking autistic peers. This pattern suggests meaningful heterogeneity in the mechanisms supporting social learning across the autism spectrum and underscores the need to consider spoken language abilities when characterizing learning profiles in autism.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13523188/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148851311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting emotional valence in autism: a preregistered study in the Bayesian Brain framework.","authors":"Irene Sophia Plank, Alexandra Pior, Anna Yurova, Julia Nowak, Zhuanghua Shi, Christine M Falter-Wagner","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00730-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00730-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects social interaction, communication and behavioural flexibility. Recent theories grounded in the Bayesian Brain Framework propose that autistic individuals process environmental uncertainty differently, overweighting volatility when updating predictions about the world. However, the robustness of these predictive processing differences and their relevance to core symptoms remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Lawson and colleagues [1] reported a tendency to overestimate environmental volatility in autistic adults based on belief states extracted using a Hierarchical Gaussian Filter. We extended their paradigm to a domain central to the autistic experience: rather than distinguishing houses from faces, participants detected valence in emotional facial expressions. Preregistered hypotheses were evaluated using Bayesian linear mixed models based on data of 22 autistic and 22 non-autistic participants.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Despite using an identical computational model to extract belief states, we did not find robust differences between autistic and non-autistic adults, though autistic participants showed a non-credible trend towards increased processing of phasic volatility. Largely comparable probabilistic associative learning was also reflected in response times and pupil sizes.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>While participants reacted faster to expected than unexpected trials in the beginning, this effect decreased over the course of the experiment; thus, possibly indicating that the individual blocks of stable cue-outcome associations were too short.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We were unable to find credible differences in environmental volatility and learning rate updates using a task designed to probe a key autistic difficulty, facial emotion recognition. The current results call into question the generalisability and clinical relevance of prior findings.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13435570/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148549734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reported health-condition history profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth care: an exploratory latent class analysis.","authors":"Kelly Whaling, Vivian Darlene Grillo, Jacqueline Shinall, Melanie Penner, Rachel Loftin","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00732-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00732-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Adults presenting for autism-related clinical care often report a range of physical and mental health condition histories. This exploratory study examined whether reported conditions formed person-level profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth services.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a retrospective chart review of 640 adults receiving care from a United States-based telehealth organization. Latent class analysis used 30 binary indicators: 28 physical health condition endorsements and two psychiatric diagnostic indicators, anxiety and mood disorder. Supporting analyses included bivariate correlations, logistic regression, class comparisons, covariate analyses, and sensitivity analyses for rare indicators, overlapping indicators, physical-only class structure, and ADHD.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The retained three-class solution identified a Mental and Physical Health class (17.7%), a Mental Health Predominant class (56.3%), and a Minimal Reported Conditions class (26.1%). The Mental and Physical Health class showed high mood and anxiety endorsement alongside elevated multisystem physical concerns, including chronic pain, chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, numbness or tingling, irritable bowel symptoms, hormone-related problems, and bone or joint problems. The Mental Health Predominant class showed similarly high psychiatric endorsement but limited physical endorsement. The Minimal Reported Conditions class showed low endorsement across all indicators. Bivariate analyses showed strong clustering among neurological/autonomic, pain/fatigue, and musculoskeletal indicators, with smaller psychiatric-physical associations. Age, diagnostic documentation status, and ADHD history differed across classes, although documented and self-reported autism groups were represented across all three profiles. Sensitivity analyses supported the three-class structure after excluding rare or overlapping indicators; the physical-only analysis favored a two-class higher-versus-lower endorsement structure.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Reported health-condition histories in this clinical service sample were described by three person-level profiles, suggesting physical and mental health conditions may be partially dissociable rather than uniform. These exploratory profiles may inform more individualized care and future research on health variability among autistic adults.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>Findings are provisional. Data came from checklist-based clinical intake records that were not independently validated, autism status was not confirmed by standardized assessment, and the treatment-seeking telehealth sample may not generalize to autistic adults with higher support needs or limited telehealth access.</p><p><strong>Trial registration: </strong>Not applicable; this is an exploratory descriptive study and not a health care intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13673817/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148549726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Are items from current self-report measures adequate for assessing autistic traits in women? Insights from a modified Delphi study with autistic women and professional experts.","authors":"Nora Uglik-Marucha, Jude Fredman, Tala Al-Shurafa, Clarissa Ragrag, Francesca Happé, Hannah Belcher, Silia Vitoratou","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00724-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00724-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Sex/gender-related measurement bias in autism measures has been proposed as a factor contributing to the underdiagnosis of autistic women, yet research in this area remains limited. This study builds on a small but growing body of work addressing this gap by using a modified Delphi methodology to reach consensus among autistic women and academics/clinicians on the most relevant items from five measures of autistic traits: Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ-50), Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ), Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI), Girls Questionnaire for Autism Spectrum Condition (GQ-ASC), and Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale-14 (RAADS-14), and to evaluate each measure's suitability for autistic women in their current form.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Thirty-three autistic women and thirty-three academics/clinicians participated in the study. Each participant was asked to rate the relevance of individual items to the experiences of autistic women and to indicate whether each measure comprehensively captured experiences relevant to this group. Agreement was calculated separately for each group using item-level content validity indices, from which scale-level indices were derived for each measure.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The RAADS-14 was rated as the most relevant measure for assessing autistic traits in women, followed by the CATI, while the remaining questionnaires were associated with lower perceived relevance. However, none fully captured experiences relevant to autistic women, indicating construct underrepresentation. Items assessing masking were identified as valuable for inclusion to enhance the relevance of measures for women, whereas items related to attention to detail and imagination appeared less useful for assessing autism more broadly or for capturing more nuanced presentations of autistic traits.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>The sample was predominantly Western, White, and highly educated, limiting the generalisability of findings. Furthermore, the expert groups lacked sufficient homogeneity, as academics and clinicians were combined and participants evaluated different subsets of measures.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although the RAADS-14 and CATI were identified as the most relevant measures for autistic women, all instruments demonstrated incomplete coverage of the autism construct in this population. Items reaching consensus as most relevant across the five measures provide a foundation for refining existing scales to better capture the experiences of individuals with more nuanced presentations of autistic traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13663005/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148471724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal brain-state dynamics delineate executive function subtypes in school-aged autism: evidence from co-activation patterns and a four-year follow-up.","authors":"Zenghe Yue, Jinyi Zhu, Yuxuan Wang, Luyang Guan, Shengjian Yin, Hui Fang, Xiaoyan Ke","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00728-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00728-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by profound clinical and biological heterogeneity. The neurodynamic profiles associated with divergent developmental trajectories of executive function (EF) during the critical transition from late childhood to early adolescence remain poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether heterogeneity in EF development is associated with distinct neurodynamic profiles.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In a longitudinal study, 68 children with ASD (aged 6-9 years) and 50 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls underwent baseline resting-state fMRI. The ASD group was followed for approximately 4 years. EF was assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), alongside follow-up depression, anxiety, and sleep outcomes. Longitudinal EF trajectory clusters were identified to characterize developmental heterogeneity. In parallel, baseline neurofunctional subtypes were derived from ALFF using a normative-deviation framework, with fALFF used for sensitivity analysis. CAP analysis was then applied to examine brain-state dynamics across these complementary stratification approaches.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>EF declined longitudinally in the ASD group, particularly in behavioral regulation domains, and these changes were associated with depressive symptoms and sleep problems at follow-up. Three longitudinal EF trajectory clusters were identified, but baseline CAP dynamics showed minimal differences across these groups. In contrast, ALFF-derived neurofunctional subtypes exhibited distinct CAP dynamic profiles, with Subtype 1 showing greater engagement of visual-related states and Subtype 2 exhibiting enhanced transitions among DMN/FPN-related control states. fALFF-based analyses yielded similar subtype assignments, supporting the robustness of the neurofunctional stratification. Critically, similar EF deterioration was associated with distinct neurodynamic profiles, as reflected by subtype-specific state-transition patterns that showed opposite associations with EF changes.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>First, the TD group was not followed longitudinally, limiting precise quantification of deviation from normative developmental pathways. Second, the sample size and attrition during follow-up may affect the stability of subtype assignment. Finally, as inferences were based on resting-state fMRI, task-based or ecologically valid measures were not available to validate functional interpretations.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings provide evidence for neurodynamic heterogeneity in ASD, suggesting that similar clinical outcomes may be associated with divergent brain-state profiles. This work supports the move toward neuro-subtype-informed precision stratification and targeted intervention strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13647907/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148437428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phase synchronization modes are associated with heterogeneous social orienting in children and adolescents with autism.","authors":"Xing-Ke Wang, Sheng Yang, He-Li Lu, Chun-Yan Yue, Li-Fang Dai, Shao-Di Wang, Shuang Li, Zhou Zhang, Li-Rui Hao, Rui-Xuan Ren, Yue Cao, Gaoxiang Ouyang","doi":"10.1186/s13229-026-00729-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13229-026-00729-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Social deficit in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) varies substantially across individuals, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this variability remain poorly understood. Resting state electrophysiological measures may under-engage social information processing and may be less sensitive to ASD-related neural differences. Here we combined EEG with eye tracking during a low demand viewing paradigm to probe neural dynamics and to identify data-driven neurodynamic modes associated with variability in social orienting.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We recruited 88 autistic and 71 typically developing (TD) participants for eyes-open resting-state EEG. A subset of these participants, including 58 autistic and 61 TD participants, additionally completed a Social vs. Geometric paradigm with simultaneous EEG and eye tracking. Alpha-band resting-state and task-state EEG were segmented into five microstate (MS) classes (A-E). We compared MS temporal and complexity features between conditions and used support vector machine classification to test whether resting-state or task-state MS features better differentiated ASD from TD participants. For the more discriminative condition, MS-based alpha activity was further characterized by amplitude and phase-locking value (PLV). Participant-level MS-based PLV features were then used for k-means clustering, and moderation models examined whether PLV shaped the association between autistic traits and social orienting.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Task-state MS features differentiated ASD from TD more accurately than resting-state features. Group differences were primarily expressed in MS-based alpha PLV across the five MS classes, whereas alpha amplitude showed no significant group differences. Clustering identified two PLV-based synchronization modes that were present in both ASD and TD participants. Within ASD, these modes differed in social orienting, and MS A PLV moderated the association between autistic traits and social scene preference ratio.</p><p><strong>Limitations: </strong>Given the cross-sectional design, tracing the developmental trajectories of these distinct neurodynamic modes will require future multi-center, longitudinal tracking.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings suggest that social orienting variability within ASD is associated with heterogeneous neurodynamic modes that become most visible under naturalistic social input and are more strongly associated with phase synchronization.</p>","PeriodicalId":18733,"journal":{"name":"Molecular Autism","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13632423/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148422437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}