Fig. 3
Integration of gradient and SFC findings. a Scatter plot of the first two connectivity embedding gradients in controls and ASD. Gradient 1 (y-axis) runs from primary sensorimotor (dark turquoise) to transmodal DMN (sienna). Gradient 2 (x-axis) separates somatomotor and auditory cortex from visual cortex. Triangular scattered points are colored with respect to established functional communities18. Histograms on right show the point density in ASD (light red) and controls (gray), suggesting overall compression of the first gradient in ASD. b Post-hoc analysis, showing positional shifts of the four significant clusters from the surface-based analysis (See Figure 1; 1-PCC/PCU, 2-mPFC, 3-OT, 4-pMTG). c Stepwise functional connectivity (SFC) in gradient space. Points are colored with respect to cumulative steps when simultaneously seeding from V1, S1, and A1. Trajectories (sampled every 20th step) illustrate the direct SFC from the primary sensory seeds to transmodal DMN in controls (left). ASD show an initially more rapid transition; however, trajectories deflect from a straight path and do not reach the DMN, even after 200 steps. Histogram on the right show point densities, weighted by the cumulative SFC. See also Supplementary Movies 1–3
