Atypical Developmental Patterns of Sensorimotor-Related Networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A BrainAGE Study Based on Resting-State fMRI.
Sensorimotor brain networks grow on a different clock in ASD—late start, odd flip in teens.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team scanned the kids and teens with ASD while they rested. They used a tool called BrainAGE. It reads the brain scan and guesses the child’s true age.
They looked at sensorimotor and auditory networks. These are the parts that move the body and hear sounds. They compared each child’s brain age to their real age.
What they found
Kids with ASD had younger-looking auditory and sensorimotor networks. Their brains acted like those of younger children.
The motor network showed a twist. In little kids it looked older, but in teens it looked younger. This flip did not happen in typical kids.
How this fits with other research
Burgess et al. (1986) saw the same delay using EEG. They found slow waves like those of toddlers. The new fMRI data match that old pattern.
Pedrahita et al. (2026) looked at adults. They saw faster aging in ASD brains. Wu et al. (2025) now shows the delay starts in childhood. Together they trace a curve: late start, then quick catch-up aging.
Audras-Torrent et al. (2021) found weak semantic networks. The sensorimotor delay here may feed that weakness. Kids who hear and move less may build fewer word links.
Why it matters
You can expect motor and auditory skills to lag behind IQ age. Plan simpler steps and extra practice time. Watch for the flip in teens: motor skills may suddenly seem to catch up. Track both real age and brain age to set fair goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by atypical brain development. Previous whole-brain BrainAGE studies have unveiled the presence of accelerated or delayed brain function developmental patterns in individuals with ASD. However, it remains unclear whether these patterns manifest at a global level throughout the entire brain or are specific to certain functional sub-networks. The study included resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 127 individuals with ASD and 135 healthy controls (aged between 5 and 40 years). ALFF maps were measured for each participant. Then, sub-network-level BrainAGE analyses were conducted across 10 sub-networks using the Individual-weighted Multilayer Perceptron Network (ILWMLP) regression method. The BrainAGE analyses revealed atypical developmental trajectories in sensorimotor-related sub-networks, encompassing auditory, motor, and sensorimotor sub-networks. In individuals with ASD, delayed brain function development was observed in the auditory and sensorimotor networks, with a more pronounced delay observed in older individuals. Conversely, the motor network exhibited accelerated development in younger individuals but delayed development in older individuals. Our findings unveiled aberrant developmental patterns in sensorimotor-related sub-networks among individuals with ASD, exhibiting distinct atypical profiles across different sub-networks. These results might contribute to a deeper understanding of the deviant brain development observed in ASD.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2025 · doi:10.1002/aur.70008