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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.05.25.727621

Cross-Domain Behavioral Fingerprints in ASD

Fernandez, A.
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Abstract

The behavioral features of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) span multiple domains, yet how behavioral dimensions shape and contribute to ASD phenotypes remains unknown. Here, using large-scale phenotypic data from SPARK, I identified a reproducible architecture linking sensory-repetitive, motor, and social-communication features with broader clinical variation and show broad associations with psychopathology. This organization is recovered across independent SPARK subsets and independently replicated in the Simons Simplex Collection, where sensory-repetitive features again form the highest-ranking hubs. Anxiety-related symptoms contribute to but not fully account for this organization. Age-stratified analyses in SPARK revealed a marked reorganization of phenotypic architecture with sensory-repetitive features dominating the hub hierarchy in childhood and motor features rising to the highest relative positions in adolescence and adulthood. Together, these findings suggest that autism-related heterogeneity is not simply multidimensional but organized around a reproducible sensory-repetitive-centered architecture whose developmental expression varies across cohorts.

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Fernandez, A.. 2026-05-26. Cross-Domain Behavioral Fingerprints in ASD. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.25.727621

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