Web-Based Multimodal Learning System to Develop Social Communication Skills

Web-Based Multimodal Learning System to Develop Social Communication Skills | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Web-Based Multimodal Learning System to Develop Social Communication Skills Hiroki Tanaka, Alexandra Lisitsyna This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6348216/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Virtual agents offer a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional human-led social skills training, which is often limited by the availability of professional trainers. Our web-based learning system, developed following Bellack et al.’s training model, integrates speech recognition, response selection, speech synthesis, and nonverbal behavior generation to provide automated training. To evaluate its effectiveness, we conducted a four-week study with 60 Japanese participants from the general population, focusing on four key social skills. Participants completed questionnaires assessing autistic traits, social anxiety, and changes in social communication skills post-training. Results demonstrated significant improvements, with notable results in participants’ confidence in declining requests. These findings highlight the potential of web-based virtual agents for enhancing social communication skills and suggest promising applications for social communication research and intervention programs. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Social Communication Web-based Learning Virtual Agent Automatic Assessment Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6348216","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":436573385,"identity":"eed926bf-a0c1-4cb4-84a2-95211667cf88","order_by":0,"name":"Hiroki Tanaka","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACA2YGBsYGAzAbyKyQgIrzENYiAdFyhhgtDCAtDFAtjG1EOMycnffhwxkFDHX8s5sfG/ycZyFvcID54QcGmTs4tVg2sxsbbgA6TOLOMePE3m0ShhsOsBlLMPA8w+2ww2xskg9AfrmRYHyAd5tEgsEBBjOgXw4T1iJ/I/3zwb9zQFrYvxHWAnKYwY0c42TeBpAWHoK2MBvOMJCQ3Hgjp9hY5piE4czDPMUSCfj8cv4Y48OePzb8cjfSN0u+qamT5zvevvHDxx7cIQYFEkhsYIwyJPYcIKQFA/wgXcsoGAWjYBQMWwAA3WtMeEd7YvAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0548-6252","institution":"International Christian University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hiroki","middleName":"","lastName":"Tanaka","suffix":""},{"id":436573386,"identity":"7fff1cda-b75e-40b7-9e98-4355428a2869","order_by":1,"name":"Alexandra Lisitsyna","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"International Christian University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexandra","middleName":"","lastName":"Lisitsyna","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-01 00:34:33","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6348216/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6348216/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79739731,"identity":"16119047-3159-4851-8f3f-2bdea5cf9d9b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-02 07:44:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":627324,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"JMUI2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6348216/v1_covered_b167fe28-1bc7-47f5-a738-809c83a34350.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eWeb-Based Multimodal Learning System to Develop Social Communication Skills\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"International Christian University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Social Communication, Web-based Learning, Virtual Agent, Automatic Assessment","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6348216/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6348216/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eVirtual agents offer a scalable and cost-effective alternative to traditional human-led social skills training, which is often limited by the availability of professional trainers. 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