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Chapter 16
AFFECTIVE SOCIAL QUEST
Emotion Recognition Therapy for Autistic Children
Katharine Blocher and Rosalind W. Picard
MIT Media Laboratory
Abstract This chapter describes an interactive computer system – Affective Social Quest
– aimed at helping autistic children learn how to recognize emotional expres-
sions. The system illustrates emotional situations and then cues the child to
select which stuffed “dwarf” doll most closely matches the portrayed emotion.
The dwarfs provide a wireless, playful haptic interface that can also be used by
multiple players. The chapter summarizes the system design, discusses its use
in behavioral modification intervention therapy, and presents evaluations of its
use by six children and their practitioners.
1. Introduction
Recognizing and expressing affect is a vital part of social participation. Un-
fortunately, those with autism have a learning disability in this area, often ac-
companied by deficits in language, motor and perceptual development. Their
development of social communication is very low compared to neurologically
typical children who learn social cues naturally while growing up. In trying
to comprehend social nuances in communication or social behavior to blend
in during everyday interaction, autistic children get frustrated, not only with
themselves but also with their teachers, and often give up learning. What
may help an autistic child in this case is an ever-patient teacher. This research
presents an approach to creating that teacher: a persistent and unresentful aid
that progressively introduces basic emotional expressions, guides recognition
development through matching, and records the child’s success. It is designed
to teach emotion recognition to autistic children with a heterogeneous disor-
der. Although the application developed for this research does not come close
to the abilities of a highly trained human practitioner, it is designed to offload
some of the more tedious parts of the work.
