Objetivo Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a clinical diagnostic label used to characterize a wide array of individuals exhibiting some common degree of core difficulty in the domain of social communication. This difficulty is reflected in contextually inappropriate social behavior, limited understanding of social norms, expectations, and others’ mental states, eye gaze abnormalities, etc. Such impairments often lead to social exclusion and failure to develop age-appropriate peer relationships. Although current behavioral interventions for autism show some effectiveness, their generalizability is limited insofar as they are often set in structured settings that are decontextualized from situations of everyday life. Also, most of the interventions that have been effective tend to train skills that do not pertain to core areas of social communication where individuals with autism encounter difficulties (e.g. they target improvements in language, IQ etc.). To overcome the shortcomings of traditional interventions we have begun exploring how to train social skills through interactive role-playing scenarios experienced through immersive Virtual Reality (VR). With VR autistic individuals can practice, in realistic but safe environments, useful and typical tasks from everyday life. We have designed a prototype software package with a number of tasks embedded in virtual environments aiming at (1) capitalizing on known cognitive strengths of autistic individuals (e.g. good skills in visual search) and generalizing them to social settings, and (2) improving the transfer of skills across tasks that are conceptually similar despite surface differences. This software runs on a variety of platforms including low-cost Head-Mounted-Displays and 3D TVs. Based on what we know about autism and current interventions, with this PoC grant we aim to explore the potential of commercializing affordable software/hardware VR systems for social skills training in clinical settings and at home. Ámbito científico social sciencessociologysocial issuessocial inequalitiesnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationsvirtual reality Programa(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Tema(s) ERC-PoC-2014 - ERC Proof of Concept Grant Convocatoria de propuestas ERC-2014-PoC Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria Régimen de financiación ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant Institución de acogida UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS Aportación neta de la UEn € 147 687,50 Dirección AVENUE PANEPISTIMIOU 2109 AGLANTZI 1678 Nicosia Chipre Ver en el mapa Región Κύπρος Κύπρος Κύπρος Tipo de actividad Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Enlaces Contactar con la organización Opens in new window Sitio web Opens in new window Participación en los programas de I+D de la UE Opens in new window Red de colaboración de HORIZON Opens in new window Coste total € 147 687,50 Beneficiarios (1) Ordenar alfabéticamente Ordenar por aportación neta de la UE Ampliar todo Contraer todo UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS Chipre Aportación neta de la UEn € 147 687,50 Dirección AVENUE PANEPISTIMIOU 2109 AGLANTZI 1678 Nicosia Ver en el mapa Región Κύπρος Κύπρος Κύπρος Tipo de actividad Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Enlaces Contactar con la organización Opens in new window Sitio web Opens in new window Participación en los programas de I+D de la UE Opens in new window Red de colaboración de HORIZON Opens in new window Coste total € 147 687,50