Increased Intra-Subject Variability of Neural Activity During Speech Production in People with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Communication difficulties are a core deficit in many people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study evaluated neural activation in participants with ASD and neurotypical (NT) controls during a speech production task.

Methods: Neural activities of participants with ASD (N = 15, = 16.7 years, language abilities ranged from low verbal abilities to verbally fluent) and NT controls (N = 12, = 17.1 years) was examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging with a sparse-sampling paradigm.

Results: There were no differences between the ASD and NT groups in average speech activation or inter-subject run-to-run variability in speech activation. Intra-subject run-to-run neural variability was greater in the ASD group and was positively correlated with autism severity in cortical areas associated with speech.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of understanding intra-subject neural variability in participants with ASD.