How Preference Towards Robotic Agents Affects Choice Accuracy in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study investigates the effects of non-verbal socio-affective feedback provided by two different virtual agents (i.e. a human and a humanoid robot) on the performance of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in a decision-making task. The task, inspired by the “Shell Game”, required participants (N = 29, Mean age = 6.5 years) to guess which cup out of two was hiding a ball. After participants made their choice, the virtual agents provided either positive, negative, or no feedback. Results indicated no significant effects on response times (RTs) but revealed a main effect of virtual agent type on accuracy, with participants performing less accurately when playing with the robot virtual agent compared to the human virtual agent. Furthermore, participants' preference for the robot virtual agent was associated with lower accuracy. No significant effects were found on feedback presence. These findings suggest that the preference for the robot virtual agent may have distracted some children, leading to decreased accuracy during the task. Attentional focus on the virtual agent during the cue presentation may have influenced performance but not overall cognitive processing speed. Understanding individual preferences and potential distractions using virtual agents can help optimize the development of interventions for children with ASD.