Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that the certain cause has not been determined yet. The current study examined 154 participants (77 ASD, 77 Controls, between 5 and 9 years) from nine independent datasets of the ABIDE. Previous studies have often examined the functional connectivity, it lacks information about the directed causal influences among the brain regions; however, in the present study, we examined the effective connectivity (EC) of the default mode network (DMN). Effective connectivity is a measurable parameter of brain network connectivity that infers the causality and directionality of connections between a set of regions of interest (ROIs). We used Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) to DMN with fully model connected, and used the Parameter Empirical Bayes model (PEB) with considered age, gender, handedness, and IQ of each participant for our group analysis. We found a reduction in effective connectivity default mode network of autistic patients compared to healthy controls. Reduced effective connectivity from mPFC to RIPC, reduced effective connectivity from PCC to mPFC and reduced effective connectivity from PCC to LIPC. We also found decrease self-inhibition in mPFC and RIPC, and an increase in effective connectivity in the male from LIPC to the other regions.

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