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International Conference on Social Robotics

ICSR 2015: Social Robotics pp 296–305Cite as

Robot-Assisted Training of Joint Attention Skills in Children Diagnosed with Autism

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9388))

Abstract

Due to technological and scientific advances, a new approach to autism therapy has emerged, namely robot-assisted therapy. However, as of now, no systematic studies have examined the specific cognitive mechanisms that are affected by robot-assisted training. This study used knowledge and methodology of experimental psychology to design a training protocol involving a pet robot CuDDler (A*STAR Singapore), which targeted at the specific cognitive mechanism of responding to joint attention (RJA). The training protocol used a modified attention cueing paradigm, where head direction of the robot cued children’s spatial attention to a stimulus presented on one of the sides of the robot. The children were engaged in a game that could be completed only through following the head direction of the robot. Over several weeks of training, children learned to follow the head movement of the robot and thus trained their RJA skills. Results showed improvement in RJA skills post training, relative to a pre-training test. Importantly, the RJA skills were transferred from interaction with the robot to interaction with the human experimenter. This shows that with the use of objective measures and protocols grounded in methods of experimental psychology, it is possible to design efficient training of specific social cognitive mechanisms, which are the basis for more complex social skills.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuro-Cognitive Psychology Master Program, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

    Jasmin Kajopoulos

  2. Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (a*STAR), Singapore, Singapore

    Alvin Hong Yee Wong, Anthony Wong Chen Yuen, Tran Anh Dung & Tan Yeow Kee

  3. General and Experimental Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

    Agnieszka Wykowska

  4. Chair for Cognitive Systems, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Agnieszka Wykowska

Authors
  1. Jasmin Kajopoulos
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  2. Alvin Hong Yee Wong
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  3. Anthony Wong Chen Yuen
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  4. Tran Anh Dung
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  5. Tan Yeow Kee
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  6. Agnieszka Wykowska
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Agnieszka Wykowska .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics and Computer Vision Lab, ENSTA-ParisTech, Palaiseau, France

    Adriana Tapus

  2. Inst für Informatik, Human-Ctr Multimedi, Universität Augsburg, Augsburg, Bayern, Germany

    Elisabeth André

  3. LIMSI-CNRS, Orsay, France

    Jean-Claude Martin

  4. Robotics and Computer Vision Lab, ENSTA-ParisTech, Palaiseau, France

    François Ferland

  5. LIMSI-CNRS, Orsay, France

    Mehdi Ammi

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Kajopoulos, J., Wong, A.H.Y., Yuen, A.W.C., Dung, T.A., Kee, T.Y., Wykowska, A. (2015). Robot-Assisted Training of Joint Attention Skills in Children Diagnosed with Autism. In: Tapus, A., André, E., Martin, JC., Ferland, F., Ammi, M. (eds) Social Robotics. ICSR 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9388. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25554-5_30

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25553-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25554-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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