A Web application to improve emotional awareness in high-functioning autistics

Abstract

The web application built here is based on the idea of presenting scenarios to users, using text, and having the users choose likely emotions that match the scenarios. Taken for granted by most neurotypical people, high-functioning autistics are often lacking in this area of social-skill development. This idea of emotion to scenario matching is accomplished using a series of different games that take different approaches to exercise these skills. The application relies on the two main Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches. The first AI approach is classical, relying on computer-based algorithms developed by others to judge text and put out the correct affect or emotion. The other part of the AI relies on users of the system contributing via regular usage or explicit correction to train the system in a type of feedback loop.