Computer-Based Training Program to Facilitate Learning of the Relationship between Facial-Based and Situation-Based Emotions and Prosocial Behaviors

摘要

Individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty inferring other people’s feelings from their facial expressions and/or from situational cues, and therefore, they are less able to respond with prosocial behavior. We de- veloped a computer-based training program to help teach the connection between facial-based or situation-based emo- tions and prosocial behavioral responses. An 8-year-old male school child with ASD participated in the study. In this program, he was trained to identify persons in need of help and appropriate prosocial responses using novel photo- based scenarios. When he misidentified emotions from photographs of another’s face, the program highlighted those parts of the face which effectively communicate emotion. To increase the likelihood that he would learn a generalized repertoire of emotional understanding, multiple examples of emotional expressions and situations were provided. When he misidentified persons expressing a need for help, or failed to identify appropriate helping behaviors, role playing was used to help him appreciate the state of mind of a person in need of help. The results of the training indi- cated increases in prosocial behaviors during a laboratory task that required collaborative work. His homeroom teacher, using a behavioral rating scale, reported that he now understood another’s emotion or situation better than before training. These findings indicate the effects of the training are not limited to the artificial experiment situation, but also carried over to his school life.