Fig. 1

Connectome gradient mapping in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and neurotypical controls. a The principal gradient in controls describes a continuous coordinate system that runs from unimodal (dark turquoise) regions one end to transmodal regions on the other end (sienna), peaking in the default mode network (DMN). Regions with similar connectivity patterns show similar coloring. In ASD, while the gradient is overall similar, one readily appreciates lower values in the DMN core. b Global histogram analysis confirmed that extreme values were suppressed in ASD compared to controls, while those in the mid-range increased. c Surface-wide statistical comparisons between controls and ASD, with increases/decreases in ASD shown in red/blue. Findings were obtained using surface-based linear models implemented in SurfStat. d Community-based z-score analysis of gradient score (with respect to controls) shows significant reductions primarily in DMN both spider (left) and joy (right) plots