Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism

Authors:
Alyssa Alcorn;Helen Pain;Gnanathusharan Rajendran;Tim Smith;Oliver Lemon;Kaska Porayska-Pomsta;Mary Ellen Foster;Katerina Avramides;Christopher Frauenberger;Sara Bernardini
Affiliations:
Heriot Watt University;University of Edinburgh;Strathclyde University;Birkbeck College;Heriot Watt University;London Knowledge Lab;Heriot Watt University;London Knowledge Lab;University of Sussex;London Knowledge Lab
Venue:
AIED'11 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Artificial intelligence in education
Year:
2011

Citing 4
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Abstract

Children with ASD have difficulty with social communication, particularly joint attention. Interaction in a virtual environment (VE) may be a means for both understanding these difficulties and addressing them. It is first necessary to discover how this population interacts with virtual characters, and whether they can follow joint attention cues in a VE. This paper describes a study in which 32 children with ASD used the ECHOES VE to assist a virtual character in selecting objects by following the character's gaze and/or pointing. Both accuracy and reaction time data suggest that children were able to successfully complete the task, and qualitative data further suggests that most children perceived the character as an intentional being with relevant, mutually directed behaviour.