Table 2 Neurocognitive domains, underlying brain networks, and neurotransmitter systems

Theory of mind

Mentalising network [76, 78]; dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, R/L temporal-parietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, R/L anterior temporal lobe, L temporal pole, cerebellar regions

ND

Emotion recognition/emotional reactivity

The corticolimbic circuit; amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, lateral prefrontal cortex

5-HT, DA, OT, endocannabinoids

Social motivation/social reward sensitivity

Brain reward network: ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens [114], ventral medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, midbrain; social reward processing further relies on connections to modality specific social information, e.g. right fusiform gyrus implicated in processing faces

OT/AVP, DA

Executive function

Cognitive control network: prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, striatum, posterior parietal cortex

Working memory: dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC), posterior cingulate and parietal cortices

GABA, MAOA

Weak central coherence

Neurobiological underpinnings are not yet fully understood. R DLPFC, parietal cortex, R ventral occipital cortex (vOcc) [115]; broadly consistent with long-range under-connectivity and short-range over-connectivity

ND

Systemizing

Not tested

Top-down processing/predictive coding

Predictive coding in perception/cognition assumes a hierarchical processing stream and the interplay between feed-forward (bottom-up) and backward (top-down) connections. In a related model predominantly bottom-up-directed gamma-band oscillations are controlled by predominantly top-down-directed alpha-beta-band influences. Not directly tested in ASD.

DA, Ach,

NMDA signalling