A usability study of a serious game to teach emotion recognition to people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and intellectual disabilities

Context People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty recognizing emotions. Many serious games aim at improving emotion recognition in this population. In this study, we evaluated the usability of the Emoface Play&Learn Emotions application, including its effectiveness at teaching people with ASD emotion recognition. Method: Thirty-one people with ASD aged 5 to 35 years were trained to recognize the six primary emotions – happiness, anger, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise – using the app for 2 months. We performed pre- and post-tests to observe the evolution of the participants' performance following their training on the application. We considered participants' level in communication and social skills in order to define a profile of players who would most benefit from the game. Finally, we asked professionals to judge the usability and playability of the application as well as their satisfaction following the trial period. Results: We found a learning effect after training, influenced by participants’ profiles; Participants with better social and communication skills progressed more than participants with lower levels in these skills. However, there was no effect of age or time spent on the game. Progress was better if the participant played longer sessions over fewer weeks. Feedback from professionals showed that the usability and playability concepts of the Emoface Play&Learn Emotions serious game are only partially exploited. However, the professionals did highly rate the interface and the visual characteristics of the application. Limitations: The lack of control group prevents us from attributing participants’ progress to the serious game; moreover, we did not assess participants’ fine motor skills nor the caregivers’ level of mastery of technology, both of which could affect the use of the game. Conclusion: The application seems promising for training emotion recognition in people with ASD. The impact of individual factors on the progress highlights the necessity of clearly defining the profile of people who would benefit from serious games. Professionals overall would recommend the application Emoface Play&Learn emotions.