Assessing Interactive Avatars for Use with Children with Autism

描述(申请人提供)：自闭症的特征是缺乏沟通，社交互动，以及不寻常的兴趣和刻板印象的行为。自闭症患者通常在知觉复杂性水平较低的任务中表现更好。这项提案将调查自闭症儿童如何与具有多个层次的物理细节和运动特征的计算机生成的化身互动，以确定这些修改对社交互动的影响。提出的研究的主要假设是，自闭症儿童观察到的社会缺陷将在与细节水平较低的角色互动时得到改善。具体来说，我们将在现有工作的基础上使用 化身，测试外观和动作复杂性的修改对对话行为的影响。实验室研究将包括6至10岁的自闭症儿童。将使用一种新的最先进的技术，允许参与者和不同外表的演员之间进行现场互动和自发对话。这项研究将第一次比较自闭症儿童与多种类型的化身互动时的行为，也是第一次在化身和自闭症儿童之间使用不受限制的脚本进行实时、非结构化的互动。化身的外观复杂性以及动作复杂性以及视觉和听觉复杂性随着时间的推移而变化。这项工作将增加关于自闭症基本知觉过程的知识，并影响未来对这一人群的干预。拟议的研究将建立在动画方法、认知科学、发展科学和人机交互研究的最新进展的基础上。此外，通过告知调查人员各种化身的适当选择和使用，它将对自闭症儿童的基于计算机的干预的治疗实践产生影响。 与公共健康相关：该项目使用计算机头像来检查自闭症儿童的外表和动作复杂性对社交互动的影响。它将扩展关于自闭症患者如何在不同复杂程度上处理信息的现有知识。此外，它还将对基于计算机的自闭症干预的化身的未来使用和选择产生影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Autism is characterized by deficits in communication, social interactions, and unusual interests and stereotyped behaviors. Individuals with autism often perform better on tasks with reduced levels of perceptual complexity. This proposal will investigate how children with autism interact with computer-generated avatars with multiple levels of physical detail and movement characteristics to determine the effects of these modifications on social interactions. The main hypothesis of the proposed studies is that the social deficits observed in children with autism will be ameliorated during interactions with characters with reduced levels of detail. Specifically, we will build upon the existing work to use avatars to test the effects of modifications in appearance and motion complexity on conversation behaviors. Laboratory studies will include verbal children with autism between the ages of six and ten years. A new, state-of-the-art technology will be used that allows for live interactions and spontaneous conversations between the participant and an actor with various appearances. This research will be the first to compare the behaviors of children with autism while they interact with multiple types of avatars and among the first to use live, unstructured interactions with unconstrained scripts between avatars and children with autism. The avatars will vary in appearance complexity as well as motion complexity and the amount of visual and auditory complexity presented over time. This work will increase knowledge about basic perceptual processes in autism and impact future interventions with this population. The proposed research will build upon recent progress in animation methods, cognitive science, developmental science, and human-computer interaction research. Moreover, it will have implications for treatment practices with computer-based interventions for children with autism by informing investigators about the appropriate selection and use of various avatars. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project uses computer avatars to examine the effects of appearance and motion complexity on social interactions in children with autism. It will expand current knowledge on how individuals with autism process information at various levels of complexity. Moreover, it will have implications for the future use and selection of avatars for computer-based autism interventions.