Fig. 2: Sex-specific associations between SSRS and neuroimaging features.

A Sex-specific associations between SSRS and structural MRI. B Sex-specific Associations between SSRS and resting-state functional connectivity. C The position of the Left Parahippocampal Cortex. Below the brain image, a color scale ranging from yellow to red indicates a gradient corresponding to the estimate of the association between Autistic Traits and Structural MRI in the highlighted region. D Indication of the 6 white matter tracts with higher MD in both children with ASD and the Q3 group measured by DTI: left superior longitudinal fasciculus, left temporal superior longitudinal fasciculus, left parietal superior longitudinal fasciculus, right superior corticostriate tract, right superior corticostriate tract - frontal cortex and right superior corticostriate tract - parietal cortex. Each cross-section is marked with different color areas, indicating regions of abnormalities within white matter integrity measured by DTI. The color bar with a gradient from white to red represented estimates of the associations between autistic traits and DTI. The non-ASD children were categorized into four groups according to the 33, 66, and 95 percentiles of their SSRS score (herein referred to as Q1, Q2, Q3, and the top 5%), where higher score indicated more prominent autistic-like traits. Children with ASD were classified as a distinct group. Bold indicates p-values that have passed FDR correction. sMRI structural magnetic resonance imaging, lh-parahippocampal left parahippocampal, RSFC resting-state functional connectivity, CP cingulo-parietal network, DMN default mode network, DTI diffusion tensor imaging, MD mean diffusivity, AN auditory network, ASD autism spectrum disorder, SSRS short social responsiveness scale.