Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Game for Facial Expression Training
Jorge Junior Martins, Miguel Castelo‐Branco, Marco A. Simões · 2024
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently encounter difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions, significantly affecting their ability to engage in social interactions. This study introduces a novel serious game designed to enhance facial emotion recognition and expression skills among individuals with ASD. Utilizing Virtual Reality (VR) technology, the game provides an immersive and interactive environment where participants diagnosed with ASD can safely practice and refine their emotion recognition and expression abilities. Three mini-games comprising identification, manipulation and production of facial expressions were created and incorporated as tasks in our larger immersive serious game TravelTrain. Preliminary evaluation through a pilot test has demonstrated the game’s potential, with participants showing positive responses towards its usability and acceptance. These encouraging outcomes suggest that it has the potential to serve as a valuable tool in assisting individuals with ASD to improve their emotional competencies and, consequently, their social interaction skills.