EmoLand: Utilizing narrative animations, multilevel games, and affective computing to foster emotional development in children with autism spectrum disorder
Min Fan , Sheng Jin , Jianyu Fan , Wenchen Guo , Xuxin Chen
{"title":"EmoLand: Utilizing narrative animations, multilevel games, and affective computing to foster emotional development in children with autism spectrum disorder","authors":"Min Fan , Sheng Jin , Jianyu Fan , Wenchen Guo , Xuxin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103486","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Emotional skills are crucial for a child's success, though children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges in understanding social contexts, as well as recognizing and expressing facial expressions. We present EmoLand, a web-based interactive system that utilizes narrative animations, multilevel games, and artificial intelligence (AI) affective computing to instruct children with ASD about neurotypical emotions and facial expressions in social contexts. The paper sets out the iterative design process used, which was informed by ASD intervention theories, empirical studies focused on children with ASD and their educators (tutors, therapists, parents), and multiple discipline expert inputs. A preliminary evaluation involving twelve children with ASD (aged 4 to 7 years) and five tutors suggests that EmoLand is a viable teaching aid for ASD educators and effectively assists children in learning and applying generalized knowledge about emotions and facial expressions. In this paper, we discuss the design approach and key lessons learned for creating interactive AI systems for children with ASD and explore beneficial considerations for enhancing emotional development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54955,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Human-Computer Studies","volume":"199 ","pages":"Article 103486"},"PeriodicalIF":5.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Human-Computer Studies","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581925000436","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, CYBERNETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Emotional skills are crucial for a child's success, though children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face challenges in understanding social contexts, as well as recognizing and expressing facial expressions. We present EmoLand, a web-based interactive system that utilizes narrative animations, multilevel games, and artificial intelligence (AI) affective computing to instruct children with ASD about neurotypical emotions and facial expressions in social contexts. The paper sets out the iterative design process used, which was informed by ASD intervention theories, empirical studies focused on children with ASD and their educators (tutors, therapists, parents), and multiple discipline expert inputs. A preliminary evaluation involving twelve children with ASD (aged 4 to 7 years) and five tutors suggests that EmoLand is a viable teaching aid for ASD educators and effectively assists children in learning and applying generalized knowledge about emotions and facial expressions. In this paper, we discuss the design approach and key lessons learned for creating interactive AI systems for children with ASD and explore beneficial considerations for enhancing emotional development.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies publishes original research over the whole spectrum of work relevant to the theory and practice of innovative interactive systems. The journal is inherently interdisciplinary, covering research in computing, artificial intelligence, psychology, linguistics, communication, design, engineering, and social organization, which is relevant to the design, analysis, evaluation and application of innovative interactive systems. Papers at the boundaries of these disciplines are especially welcome, as it is our view that interdisciplinary approaches are needed for producing theoretical insights in this complex area and for effective deployment of innovative technologies in concrete user communities.
Research areas relevant to the journal include, but are not limited to:
• Innovative interaction techniques
• Multimodal interaction
• Speech interaction
• Graphic interaction
• Natural language interaction
• Interaction in mobile and embedded systems
• Interface design and evaluation methodologies
• Design and evaluation of innovative interactive systems
• User interface prototyping and management systems
• Ubiquitous computing
• Wearable computers
• Pervasive computing
• Affective computing
• Empirical studies of user behaviour
• Empirical studies of programming and software engineering
• Computer supported cooperative work
• Computer mediated communication
• Virtual reality
• Mixed and augmented Reality
• Intelligent user interfaces
• Presence
...