{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T19:33:43Z","timestamp":1761766423978,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,4]],"date-time":"2018-09-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1536019200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["MTI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The purpose of this paper is to review the scholarly works regarding social embodiment aligned with the design of non-player characters in virtual reality (VR)-based social skill training for autistic children. VR-based social skill training for autistic children has been a naturalistic environment, which allows autistic children themselves to shape socially-appropriate behaviors in real world. To build up the training environment for autistic children, it is necessary to identify how to simulate social components in the training. In particular, designing non-player characters (NPCs) in the training is essential to determining the quality of the simulated social interactions during the training. Through this literature review, this study proposes multiple design themes that underline the nature of social embodiment in which interactions with NPCs in VR-based social skill training take place.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mti2030053","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,5]],"date-time":"2018-09-05T03:08:55Z","timestamp":1536116935000},"page":"53","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Reviews of Social Embodiment for Design of Non-Player Characters in Virtual Reality-Based Social Skill Training for Autistic Children"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"2","author":[{"given":"Jewoong","family":"Moon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32303, USA"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.3102\/0034654317740334","article-title":"Social skill interventions for youth and adults with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review","volume":"88","author":"Ke","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.1111\/cgf.12603","article-title":"A review of eye gaze in virtual agents, social robotics and hci: Behaviour generation, user interaction and perception","volume":"34","author":"Ruhland","year":"2015","journal-title":"Comput. Graph. Forum."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.wocn.2014.10.005","article-title":"Exploring the contribution of prosody and gesture to the perception of focus using an animated agent","volume":"49","author":"Prieto","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Phon."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2013.00224","article-title":"A review of embodiment in autism spectrum disorders","volume":"4","author":"Eigsti","year":"2013","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Baron-Cohen, S.E., Tager-Flusberg, H.E., and Cohen, D.J. (1994). Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Autism, Oxford University Press."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Mitchell, P. (1997). Introduction to Theory of Mind: Children, Autism and Apes, Edward Arnold Publishers."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-005-0039-0","article-title":"The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders","volume":"36","author":"Frith","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01483.x","article-title":"Studying weak central coherence at low levels: Children with autism do not succumb to visual illusions. A research note","volume":"37","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Child. Psychol. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1177\/10883576060210010601","article-title":"Treatment integrity: A review of intervention studies conducted with children with autism","volume":"21","author":"Wheeler","year":"2006","journal-title":"Focus Autism Other Dev. Disabl."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1177\/1098300708319906","article-title":"The effects of theory-of-mind and social skill training on the social competence of a sixth-grade student with autism","volume":"10","author":"Feng","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Posit. Behav. Interv."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1177\/10883576040190020201","article-title":"Social skill deficits and anxiety in high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders","volume":"19","author":"Bellini","year":"2004","journal-title":"Focus Autism Other Dev. Disabl."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"430","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2788.2002.00425.x","article-title":"The potential of virtual reality in social skills training for people with autistic spectrum disorders","volume":"46","author":"Parsons","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Intellect. Disabil. Res."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"441","DOI":"10.1080\/00220671.2013.832999","article-title":"Virtual-reality-based social interaction training for children with high-functioning autism","volume":"106","author":"Ke","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Educ. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1109\/TCIAIG.2009.2036247","article-title":"Simulation of the dynamics of nonplayer characters\u2019 emotions and social relations in games. IEEE Trans","volume":"1","author":"Ochs","year":"2009","journal-title":"Comput. Intell. AI Games"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gray, C.A. (1998). Social stories and comic strip conversations with students with asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism?, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4615-5369-4_9"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1045","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-011-1341-7","article-title":"Atypical social modulation of imitation in autism spectrum conditions","volume":"42","author":"Cook","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"625","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03196322","article-title":"Six views of embodied cognition","volume":"9","author":"Wilson","year":"2002","journal-title":"Psychon. Bull. Rev."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1016\/S0004-3702(03)00054-7","article-title":"Embodied cognition: A field guide","volume":"149","author":"Anderson","year":"2003","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pfeifer, R., Lungarella, M., and Sporns, O. (2008). The synthetic approach to embodied cognition: A primer. Handbook of Cognitive Science: An Embodied Approach, Elsevier Science. Chapter 7.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-08-046616-3.00007-4"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-5915.2011.00317.x","article-title":"An examination of a theory of embodied social presence in virtual worlds*","volume":"42","author":"Mennecke","year":"2011","journal-title":"Decis. Sci."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1016\/S0079-7421(03)01011-9","article-title":"Social embodiment","volume":"43","author":"Barsalou","year":"2003","journal-title":"Psychol. Learn. Motiv."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1180","DOI":"10.1002\/ejsp.662","article-title":"Embodied cognition: The interplay between automatic resonance and selection-for-action mechanisms","volume":"39","author":"Rueschemeyer","year":"2009","journal-title":"Eur. J. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Duffy, B.R., Dragone, M., and O\u2019Hare, G.M. (2018, July 06). In Social Robot Architecture: A Framework for Explicit Social Interaction. Available online: https:\/\/pdfs.semanticscholar.org\/c9d6\/33ab97ea713d9ba75a1248df7b5726deea1e.pdf."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Breazeal, C., Takanishi, A., and Kobayashi, T. (2008). Social robots that interact with people. Springer Handbook of Robotics, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-30301-5_59"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1222","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2015.04.005","article-title":"Social robots and virtual agents as lecturers for video instruction","volume":"55","author":"Li","year":"2016","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.5772\/5632","article-title":"Robots social embodiment in autonomous mobile robotics","volume":"1","author":"Duffy","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Adv. Robot. Syst."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1016\/0004-3702(91)90053-M","article-title":"Intelligence without representation","volume":"47","author":"Brooks","year":"1991","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Creswell, J.W., and Creswell, J.D. (2018, July 06). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Available online: https:\/\/books.google.com.hk\/books?hl=zh-TW&lr=&id=335ZDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT19&ots=YCvUNIttsL&sig=x69KiaZpI2vrCVATj6VFMOucKp8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"803","DOI":"10.1037\/a0014124","article-title":"Autism and the extraction of emotion from briefly presented facial expressions: Stumbling at the first step of empathy","volume":"8","author":"Clark","year":"2008","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"31","article-title":"Spontaneous facial mimicry, liking and emotional contagion","volume":"37","author":"McIntosh","year":"2006","journal-title":"Pol. Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"510","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-7687.2008.00796.x","article-title":"Slow echo: Facial emg evidence for the delay of spontaneous, but not voluntary, emotional mimicry in children with autism spectrum disorders","volume":"12","author":"Oberman","year":"2009","journal-title":"Dev. Sci."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1611","article-title":"Understanding emotions in others: Mirror neuron dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorders","volume":"9","author":"Dapretto","year":"2006","journal-title":"Nat. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_33","first-page":"101","article-title":"An empirical analysis on emotional body gesture for affective virtual communication","volume":"12","author":"Weerasinghe","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Sci. Issues"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2384","DOI":"10.1080\/17470218.2015.1015431","article-title":"Gesture is more effective than spatial language in encoding spatial information","volume":"68","author":"So","year":"2015","journal-title":"Q. J. Exp. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.00354","article-title":"Creating a communication system from scratch: Gesture beats vocalization hands down","volume":"5","author":"Fay","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"495","DOI":"10.3758\/PBR.15.3.495","article-title":"Visible embodiment: Gestures as simulated action","volume":"15","author":"Hostetter","year":"2008","journal-title":"Psychon. Bull. Rev."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Andersen, P.A. (1999). Nonverbal Communication: Forms and Functions, SAGE Publications."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1177\/1362361314528390","article-title":"Gestural communication in children with autism spectrum disorders during mother\u2013child interaction","volume":"19","author":"Mastrogiuseppe","year":"2015","journal-title":"Autism"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"679","DOI":"10.1080\/02643290701669703","article-title":"Gesture imitation in autism: Ii. Symbolic gestures and pantomimed object use","volume":"24","author":"Smith","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cogn. Neuropsychol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1002\/aur.159","article-title":"Conversational gestures in autism spectrum disorders: Asynchrony but not decreased frequency","volume":"3","author":"Eigsti","year":"2010","journal-title":"Autism Res."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"655","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-006-0108-z","article-title":"The collateral effects of joint attention training on social initiations, positive affect, imitation, and spontaneous speech for young children with autism","volume":"36","author":"Whalen","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"524","DOI":"10.1044\/2013_JSLHR-L-12-0244","article-title":"Assessing gestures in young children with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"57","author":"Ellawadi","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"184","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327957pspr0903_1","article-title":"Embodiment in attitudes, social perception, and emotion","volume":"9","author":"Niedenthal","year":"2005","journal-title":"Pers. Soc. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1489","DOI":"10.1016\/S0378-2166(99)00096-X","article-title":"Action and embodiment within situated human interaction","volume":"32","author":"Goodwin","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Pragmat."},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"Schuller, B., Marchi, E., Baron-Cohen, S., O\u2019Reilly, H., Robinson, P., Davies, I., Golan, O., Friedenson, S., Tal, S., and Newman, S. (2013, January 3\u20137). Asc-inclusion: Interactive emotion games for social inclusion of children with autism spectrum conditions. Proceedings of the 8th Foundations of Digital Games, Chania, Greece."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1177\/002246698501900104","article-title":"Direct instruction with special education students: A review of evaluation research","volume":"19","author":"Gersten","year":"1985","journal-title":"J. Spec. Educ."},{"key":"ref_47","first-page":"30","article-title":"Using key instructional elements to systematically promote social skill generalization for students with challenging behavior","volume":"39","author":"Smith","year":"2003","journal-title":"Interv. Sch. Clin."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"286","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2012.00286","article-title":"Socio-cultural effects on children\u2019s initiation of joint attention","volume":"6","author":"Gavrilov","year":"2012","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"992","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.50.5.992","article-title":"Dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes","volume":"50","author":"Folkman","year":"1986","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4084","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-015-2523-5","article-title":"An effective neurofeedback intervention to improve social interactions in children with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"45","author":"Friedrich","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1015","DOI":"10.1007\/s11423-017-9512-7","article-title":"Fostering verbal and non-verbal social interactions in a 3d collaborative virtual learning environment: A case study of youth with autism spectrum disorders learning social competence in isocial","volume":"65","author":"Wang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Educ. Technol. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"310","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2015.09.006","article-title":"Exploring embodied social presence of youth with autism in 3d collaborative virtual learning environment: A case study","volume":"55","author":"Wang","year":"2016","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1511","DOI":"10.1080\/10494820.2015.1040421","article-title":"Virtual reality based collaborative design by children with high-functioning autism: Design-based flexibility, identity, and norm construction","volume":"24","author":"Ke","year":"2016","journal-title":"Interact. Learn. Environ."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1957","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-017-3455-z","article-title":"An evaluation of behavioral skills training for teaching caregivers how to support social skill development in their child with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"48","author":"Hassan","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_55","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"415","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02179376","article-title":"Teaching theory of mind: A new approach to social skills training for individuals with autism","volume":"25","author":"Ozonoff","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"395","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02409830","article-title":"Social skills training with verbal autistic adolescents and adults: A program model","volume":"14","author":"Mesibov","year":"1984","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref_57","unstructured":"Tartaro, A., and Cassell, J. (September, January 27). Authorable virtual peers for autism spectrum disorders. Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Artificial Intellegence, Riva del Garda, Italy."},{"key":"ref_58","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"703","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2016.04.033","article-title":"Virtual reality social cognition training for children with high functioning autism","volume":"62","author":"Didehbani","year":"2016","journal-title":"Comput. Hum. Behav."}],"container-title":["Multimodal Technologies and Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/2\/3\/53\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T15:18:41Z","timestamp":1760195921000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/2\/3\/53"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,4]]},"references-count":58,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,9]]}},"alternative-id":["mti2030053"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mti2030053","relation":{},"ISSN":["2414-4088"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2414-4088"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,9,4]]}}}