Social Communication between Virtual Characters and Children with 	Autism

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

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

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
Subtitle of host publication	15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011
Editors	Gautam Biswas, Susan Bull, Judy Kay, Antonija Mitrovic
Publisher	Springer
Pages	7-14
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	978-3-642-21868-2
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	Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
Volume	6738
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

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http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-21869-9_4

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Alcorn, A., Pain, H., Rajendran, G., Smith, T., Lemon, O., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Foster, M., 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: 15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011 (pp. 7-14). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 6738). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4

Alcorn, Alyssa ; Pain, Helen ; Rajendran, Gnanathusharan et al. / Social Communication between Virtual Characters and Children with Autism. Artificial Intelligence in Education: 15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011. editor / Gautam Biswas ; Susan Bull ; Judy Kay ; Antonija Mitrovic. Springer, 2011. pp. 7-14 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).

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title = "Social Communication between Virtual Characters and Children with Autism",

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.",

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

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isbn = "978-3-642-21868-2",

series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science",

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Alcorn, A, Pain, H, Rajendran, G, Smith, T, Lemon, O, Porayska-Pomsta, K, Foster, M, 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: 15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011. 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: 15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011. ed. / Gautam Biswas; Susan Bull; Judy Kay; Antonija Mitrovic. Springer, 2011. p. 7-14 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 6738).

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

TY - GEN

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

AU - Avramides, Katerina

AU - Frauenberger, Christopher

AU - Bernardini, Sara

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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Alcorn A, Pain H, Rajendran G, Smith T, Lemon O, Porayska-Pomsta K et al. Social Communication between Virtual Characters and Children with Autism. In Biswas G, Bull S, Kay J, Mitrovic A, editors, Artificial Intelligence in Education: 15th International Conference, AIED 2011, Auckland, New Zealand, June 28 – July 2011. Springer. 2011. p. 7-14. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-21869-9_4

Social Communication between Virtual Characters and Children with Autism

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