Patterns of Information Flow in Autism Canonical Brain Network by Transfer Entropy approach

Patterns of Information Flow in Autism Canonical Brain Network by Transfer Entropy approach | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Patterns of Information Flow in Autism Canonical Brain Network by Transfer Entropy approach Abolfazl HaqiqiFar, Mohammad Amin Safaei, G.Reza Jafari This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6387981/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The functional brain activity network is the result of the harmonious activity of different regions. Each harmonic activity requires feedback from different areas of activity to adjust itself. As a result, any disorder in this harmony can affect the functional brain activity network. In this study, we use transfer entropy (TE) to examine the information transfer patterns of brain activity in Healthy Controls (HC) and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The results indicate that the pattern of information transfer between brain canonical networks is different in these two groups, ASDs and HCs. The results of our study demonstrate that the HC group exhibits a higher volume of feedback in comparison to the ASD group. In addition, the major sources of information flow in HCs are the Default Mode Network and Visual Network, but the hubs in the ASD group are the Frontoparietal Network and Limbic. Also, the backbone extracted from the TE graph of brain regions of interest shows us the same modularity class in the flow of information in both groups, but we observe the separated fragments in ASDs. Finally, the question that can be answered is whether the pattern of information transfer can be used as a biomarker in diagnosing ASDs vs. HCs. To explore this, we employed XGBoost, which achieved a mean classification accuracy of 91% in distinguishing individuals with ASDs from HCs across cross-validations. Physical sciences/Physics/Statistical physics thermodynamics and nonlinear dynamics Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Computational neuroscience Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 31 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 31 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 10 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 22 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 19 Apr, 2025 Editor invited by journal 09 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 07 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 06 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6387981","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":470031336,"identity":"7f1f43de-5422-48c9-81dc-56eb6dbeac92","order_by":0,"name":"Abolfazl HaqiqiFar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abolfazl","middleName":"","lastName":"HaqiqiFar","suffix":""},{"id":470031337,"identity":"c28608d6-9584-4969-9119-e7fb73671379","order_by":1,"name":"Mohammad Amin Safaei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohammad","middleName":"Amin","lastName":"Safaei","suffix":""},{"id":470031338,"identity":"c0a0d4ad-b5c7-41a4-9897-ee13732fa1a8","order_by":2,"name":"G.Reza Jafari","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCAwwfGBgk5MDMB0RqYZwB1GIMZiYQaQ1IC0NiA4hJlBZ5x8MPG37usUifH3b4IdAWOzndBgJaDA8cM2zseSaRu/F2mgFQS7Kx2QFCWhoOmD/gOQDUMjsBpOVA4jbCWo5/bPxzQCLdcHb6B+K0yDOcMWwG2pIgL51DpC0GDGcKm2UOSBhukM4pOJBgQIRf5Gcc39j45kCdvPzs9M0fPlTYyRHUYnADqsLgAMRSwkC+vwHKaCBC9SgYBaNgFIxMAACJMk2MeOowjgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Shahid Beheshti University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"G.Reza","middleName":"","lastName":"Jafari","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-06 17:08:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6387981/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6387981/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84470880,"identity":"350a198e-cecb-4c2f-a725-062d77512d45","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-12 10:27:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":684725,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TransferEntropyinBrain3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6387981/v1_covered_d3de6033-d5da-4a23-bebd-555740d9f305.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Patterns of Information Flow in Autism Canonical Brain Network by Transfer Entropy approach","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6387981/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6387981/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The functional brain activity network is the result of the harmonious activity of different regions. 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