Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism

Alyssa Alcorn; Helen Pain; Gnanathusharan Rajendran; Tim Smith; Oliver Lemon; Kaska Porayska-Pomsta; Mary Ellen Foster; Katerina Avramides; Christopher Frauenberger; Sara Bernardini

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4

Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism

Alyssa Alcorn, Helen Pain, Gnanathusharan Rajendran, Tim Smith, Oliver Lemon, Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Mary Ellen Foster, Katerina Avramides, Christopher Frauenberger, Sara Bernardini

Psychology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

69 Citations (Scopus)

532 Downloads (Pure)

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.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Artificial Intelligence in Education
Editors	Gautam Biswas, Susan Bull, Judy Kay, Antonija Mitrovic
Publisher	Springer
Pages	7-14
Number of pages	8
Volume	6738
ISBN (Print)	978-3-642-218682
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4
Publication status	Published - 2011

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Publisher	Spinger
Volume	6738
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Keywords

autism spectrum disorder
virtual environment
virtual character
joint attention
social communication
technology-enhanced learning
HCI

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4

Alcorn et al 2011 Submitted manuscript, 255 KB

Cite this

Alcorn, A., Pain, H., Rajendran, G., Smith, T., Lemon, O., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Foster, M. E., Avramides, K., Frauenberger, C., & Bernardini, S. (2011). Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism. In G. Biswas, S. Bull, J. Kay, & A. Mitrovic (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence in Education (Vol. 6738, pp. 7-14). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 6738). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_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{\textquoteright}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. ",

keywords = "autism spectrum disorder, virtual environment, virtual character, joint attention, social communication, technology-enhanced learning, HCI",

author = "Alyssa Alcorn and Helen Pain and Gnanathusharan Rajendran and Tim Smith and Oliver Lemon and Kaska Porayska-Pomsta and Foster, \{Mary Ellen\} and Katerina Avramides and Christopher Frauenberger and Sara Bernardini",

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Alcorn, A, Pain, H, Rajendran, G, Smith, T, Lemon, O, Porayska-Pomsta, K, Foster, ME, Avramides, K, Frauenberger, C & Bernardini, S 2011, Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism. in G Biswas, S Bull, J Kay & A Mitrovic (eds), Artificial Intelligence in Education. vol. 6738, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 6738, Springer, pp. 7-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4

Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism. / Alcorn, Alyssa; Pain, Helen; Rajendran, Gnanathusharan et al.
Artificial Intelligence in Education. ed. / Gautam Biswas; Susan Bull; Judy Kay; Antonija Mitrovic. Vol. 6738 Springer, 2011. p. 7-14 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 6738).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

TY - CHAP

T1 - Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism

AU - Alcorn, Alyssa

AU - Pain, Helen

AU - Rajendran, Gnanathusharan

AU - Smith, Tim

AU - Lemon, Oliver

AU - Porayska-Pomsta, Kaska

AU - Foster, Mary Ellen

AU - Avramides, Katerina

AU - Frauenberger, Christopher

AU - Bernardini, Sara

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PY - 2011

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KW - virtual environment

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KW - joint attention

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KW - technology-enhanced learning

KW - HCI

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T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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A2 - Bull, Susan

A2 - Kay, Judy

A2 - Mitrovic, Antonija

PB - Springer

ER -

Social communication between virtual characters and children with autism

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