Abstract
Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate challenges providing appropriate levels of information during conversational interchanges. Considering the preference of individuals with ASD, and recent rapid technological advances, robotic systems may yield promise in promoting certain aspects of conversation and interaction such as self-disclosure of appropriate personal information. In the current work, we evaluated personal disclosures of events with specific emotional content across two differing robotic systems (android and simplistic humanoid) and human interactions. Nineteen participants were enrolled in this study: 11 (2 women and 9 men) adolescents with ASD and 8 (4 women and 4 men) adolescents with TD. Each participant completed a sequence of three interactions in a random order. Results indicated differences regarding comfort level and length of disclosures between adolescents with ASD and typically developing (TD) controls in relation to system interactions. Specifically, adolescents with ASD showed a preference for interacting with the robotic systems compared to TD controls and demonstrated lengthier disclosures when interacting with the visually simple humanoid robot compared to interacting with human interviewer. The findings suggest that robotic systems may be useful in eliciting and promoting aspects of social communication such as self-disclosure for some individuals with ASD.
Highlights
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display impairments in social communication and interaction, often including challenges related to appropriate engagement in conversation
No significant differences were found between ASD and typically developing (TD) groups with regards to mean age (p = 0.77), gender proportion (p = 0.33) and IQ (p = 0.08)
Significant differences in reported levels of enjoyment while communicating with the android robot were found between adolescents with ASD (5.82 ± 0.59; mean ± SEM) and TD controls (3.50 ± 0.68) (p < 0.05), as well as for the visually simple robot
Summary
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display impairments in social communication and interaction, often including challenges related to appropriate engagement in conversation. Specific challenges may be related to differences in narrative competence and theory of mind including differences in knowing what information is appropriate to disclose to others and how to successfully. Self-disclosure is the process by which people reveal personal information about themselves to others and is important in all types and stages of social relationships [2]. Reciprocity via effective self-disclosure can lead to positive outcomes in initial interactions and promote further disclosure and relationship building [3]. Individuals with ASD sometimes hesitate to disclose information to others due to challenges in understanding such interchanges or recognizing the potential value in relational reciprocity, as well as differences in social motivation [1]. Previous studies have consistently demonstrated that individuals with ASD provide fewer and shorter self-disclosure statements in personal narratives when compared with individuals with typical development [4,5,6,7]
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