How 3D Virtual Humans Built by Adolescents with ASD Affect Their 3D Interactions
Chao Mei, Lee Mason, John Quarles · 2015 · ASSETS '15: Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility · doi:10.1145/2700648.2809863
Summary
This research investigates whether allowing adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to customize the appearance of virtual humans in a 3D training game improves their interaction performance and user experience. The authors developed "Imagination Soccer," a Kinect-based game where players act as a goalkeeper blocking balls kicked by a virtual character. The key innovation is a Customizable Virtual Human (CVH) system that lets users personalize nine appearance variables: hair style/color, body fat level, muscle level, height, skin color, gender, name, t-shirt pattern (including uploading personal interest images), and age group. The study recruited 10 male participants aged 9-18 with high-functioning ASD (GARS-3 scores above 71, indicating severe autism symptoms while still being verbal and literate). Using a within-subjects design, participants played the game under two conditions: with a CVH they customized themselves, and with a Non-Customizable Virtual Human (NCVH) with randomly generated appearance. The study had two phases—time-limited play (60-second sessions) to measure performance, and free play to measure motivation and preference. The research builds on prior work showing that individuals with ASD often have inefficient hand-eye coordination in both real-world and 3D interaction tasks, and that the ASD population has highly specific, restricted interests that make one-size-fits-all game design ineffective. Hand-eye coordination training is already commonly used in ASD therapy, making this an ecologically valid intervention context.
Key findings
The results strongly supported both hypotheses. In the time-limited condition, participants achieved significantly higher success rates with CVH (93%) compared to NCVH (86%). During free play, participants voluntarily played more than twice as many rounds with CVH (22.2 kicks) versus NCVH (10 kicks), and blocked significantly more balls overall. User experience measures using the PIFF2 questionnaire showed CVH produced significantly higher scores for role engagement, perceived competence, impressiveness, and enjoyment. Eight of ten participants preferred the CVH, with two preferring NCVH because they perceived it as a "better player." Participants ranked customization variable importance as: age, t-shirt pattern, body shape, hair style, height, gender, and skin color—notably prioritizing age and personal imagery over more commonly emphasized features. An unexpected finding was significant improvement in bodily emotion recognition from pre- to post-study tests, suggesting the game's emotional feedback animations (the virtual human showing happy or sad responses) may help train emotion identification—a known challenge area for individuals with ASD.
Relevance
This study provides strong evidence that personalization and customization features are not merely "nice to have" but can meaningfully improve both performance and engagement for users with ASD. For accessibility practitioners, this suggests that accommodating restricted interests through customization may be more effective than trying to create universally appealing content for this population. The findings have practical implications for educational technology, therapeutic interventions, and game design for autism. The simple customization interface (rated "very easy" by participants) demonstrates that personalization features need not be complex to be effective. The research also validates using consumer hardware (Kinect, standard TV) rather than specialized equipment, making such interventions more accessible. A limitation is the small, all-male sample, and the inability to isolate whether emotion recognition gains were specific to the CVH condition. Future work planned by the authors includes facial feature customization and integration into additional training games.
Tags: autism spectrum disorder · virtual reality · customization · hand-eye coordination · training games · 3D user interfaces · adolescents · motor skills · personalization · virtual humans