Virtual conversation partner for adults with autism

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is notable for severely impaired reciprocal social interaction skills relative to language and intellectual abilities, presenting a major barrier to social integration and vocational success. Evidence-based interventions to address these needs are lacking. We report on the development of a small, prototype conversation simulation to teach conversational skills to adolescents and adults with ASD and average to superior intellectual abilities. We also report on a test of the feasibility and acceptability of the simulation approach with a sample of the target population. The simulation engages the user in a virtual conversation with an on-screen partner whose reactions provide naturalistic feedback geared to the appropriateness of the learner's response choices. The prototype simulation, which provides for up to 12 potentially unique multi-turn conversations, was used over a period of 2 weeks by 16 adolescents and adults who then rated statements about the system on a linear scale of 1 (disagreement) to 5 (high agreement). The participants highly endorsed the majority of positive statements about the quality and credibility of the interaction and the virtual conversation partner. In contrast, agreement with positive statements about instructional features external to the conversation was moderate. Unexpectedly, most participants strongly agreed that using the simulation had been helpful to them. Further development and testing in the context of a controlled study with randomized assignment to control and experimental groups are needed to determine whether this approach is effective in improving real-world pragmatic language behavior of high-functioning adults with ASD.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Oakhill, J. &; Garnham, A. (1988). Becoming a skilled reader, Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 206. ISBN 0-631-15244X £27.50 (hardback), ISBN 0-631-15776X £8.95 (paperback).

Brewin, C. R. (1988). Cognitive foundations of clinical psychology. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Pp. 224. ISBN 0-86377-098-3 £24.50 (hardback), ISBN 0-86377-099-1 £8.95 (paperback).     

On the relativity of relative frequencies

The most prominent models of numerical representation posit that numerical symbols are converted into a single internal, abstract representation prior to estimation and comparison processing. Here, we (1) provide a mathematical analysis of the predictions of the abstract-representation hypothesis, assuming the validity of the analog-representation hypothesis, (2) run a simulation to assess the patterns of data that result from our mathematical analysis, and (3) conduct two experiments to test the predictions of our model, using relative frequencies as inputs. We assess relative frequencies in a typical numerical distance task, whereby participants are presented with two relative frequencies and asked to identify the one that represents the larger quantity. Our data reveal that relative frequencies’ numerical representations (1) are analog and (2) are scale-specific (i.e., nonabstract).     

Investigating the stability of and relationships among global/local processing measures

Global/local stimuli have been used to estimate global processing biases in individuals and groups, as well as in response to various manipulations. Throughout the literature, multiple different versions of global/local stimuli have been used, such as traditional hierarchical letters and numbers (i.e., Navon letters), abstract hierarchical shapes, and high- and low-spatial-frequency gratings and faces. However, currently it is unclear how reliable or stable performance is on these measures within individuals over time, and whether these seemingly different measures are tapping into the same underlying process. As such, the purpose of the present study was to examine the stability of individual performance on three distinct global/local measures over time and to examine the relationships among the measures. In two studies, we examined the reliability of the biases within, and the relationships among, standard Navon letters in a traditional interference task, hierarchical shapes in a forced choice task, and superimposed high- and low-pass spatial frequency faces in a forced choice task. In both studies, participants completed all three of the tasks, and then returned 7–10 days later to again complete the same tasks. The degree of global/local bias within an individual was found to be highly reliable in the hierarchical shape task and the spatial frequency face task, but less reliable in the traditional Navon letter task. Interestingly, in both studies we found that none of the three measures of global bias were related to each other. Therefore, while these measures do appear to be reliable over time, they may be tapping into distinct aspects of global/local processing.     

Counterfactual thinking and the first instinct fallacy

Most people believe that they should avoid changing their answer when taking multiple-choice tests. Virtually all research on this topic, however, has suggested that this strategy is ill-founded: Most answer changes are from incorrect to correct, and people who change their answers usually improve their test scores. Why do people believe in this strategy if the data so strongly refute it? The authors argue that the belief is in part a product of counterfactual thinking. Changing an answer when one should have stuck with one's original answer leads to more "if only . . ." self-recriminations than does sticking with one's first instinct when one should have switched. As a consequence, instances of the former are more memorable than instances of the latter. This differential availability provides individuals with compelling (albeit illusory) personal evidence for the wisdom of always following their 1st instinct, with suboptimal test scores the result.     

How surveillance begets perceptions of dishonesty: the case of the counterfactual sinner

Three studies support the hypothesis that observers' impressions of actors reflect not only what actors do but also what they can easily be imagined doing. Participants in Studies 1 and 2 observed a 10-year-old boy take a math test in a context in which the incentive to cheat and the constraints against cheating varied. When the incentive to cheat was high but the likelihood of getting caught was also high, observers perceived a target who resisted the temptation to cheat as less honest than the average boy. This effect was not found when the incentive to cheat was low, which suggests that its occurrence under high temptation resulted from observers in that condition generating the counterfactual thought that the target would have cheated had the likelihood of detection been low. Study 3 further supported the link between spontaneous counterfactual thought and inferences of dishonesty. The implications of the counterfactual correspondence bias are discussed.     

Looking to understand: the coupling between speakers' and listeners' eye movements and its relationship to discourse comprehension

We investigated the coupling between a speaker's and a listener's eye movements. Some participants talked extemporaneously about a television show whose cast members they were viewing on a screen in front of them. Later, other participants listened to these monologues while viewing the same screen. Eye movements were recorded for all speakers and listeners. According to cross-recurrence analysis, a listener's eye movements most closely matched a speaker's eye movements at a delay of 2 sec. Indeed, the more closely a listener's eye movements were coupled with a speaker's, the better the listener did on a comprehension test. In a second experiment, low-level visual cues were used to manipulate the listeners' eye movements, and these, in turn, influenced their latencies to comprehension questions. Just as eye movements reflect the mental state of an individual, the coupling between a speaker's and a listener's eye movements reflects the success of their communication.     

Psychoanalytic controversies contextualized

Psychoanalytic disagreements are famously heated, polarized, and prolonged. These controversies are often the reflection of a shared agreement by the participants to engage in debate at an abstract level far removed from the clinical context in which the disagreement first arose. As a specimen example of such disputes, a case report by Patrick Casement is examined, together with a series of polemical discussions it inspired concerning physical contact suddenly demanded by an analysand in session. Over two dozen authors were almost evenly divided on whether to agree with Casement's technical conclusions, but showed a disquieting indifference to the detailed information available in his report regarding how this clinical crisis developed. The substantive merits of the contending arguments are not at issue; rather, the point is to demonstrate the crucial need to refine a methodology of contextualization to clarify inferential assumptions in clinical discussions. Premature truth claims might then give way to a more rational comparison of the clinical sources of divergent opinions. The term contextual horizon is introduced to facilitate an understanding of how the psychoanalyst makes inferences from the patient's associations.