PreprintCited by 227Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchVirtual Reality Applications and ImpactsSocial Robot Interaction and HRI

Virtual Reality Technology as an Educational and Intervention Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Current Perspectives and Future Directions

Open access
Zhang, Minyue, Ding, Hongwei, Zhang, Yang·2022·Behavioral Sciences

Preprint — published as 10.3390/bs12050138

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technology gains theoretical support from rehabilitation and pedagogical theories and offers a variety of capabilities in educational and interventional contexts with affordable products. VR is attracting increasing attention in the medical and healthcare industry as it provides fully interactive three-dimensional simulations of real-world settings and social situations, which are particularly suitable for cognitive and performance training including social and interaction skills. The worldwide rising trend in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder calls for innovative and efficacious techniques for assessment and treatment. The article offers a summary of current perspectives and evidence-based applications of VR technology as an educational and intervention tool for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, with a primary focus on social communication including social functioning, emotion recognition, and speech and language. Technology- and design-related limitations as well as the disputes over the application of virtual reality to autism research and therapy are discussed and future directions of this emerging field are highlighted with regards to application expansion and improvement, technology enhancement, and the development of brain-based research and theoretical models.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.20944/preprints202202.0056.v1

Cites

198 of 198 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

2 retracted

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 200 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Howlin, P. Autism: Preparing for adulthood; Routledge: London, 1997.
  2. Kolb, D.A. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development; FT Press: 2014. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 3 February 2022 doi:10.20944/preprints202202.0056.v1
  3. Ip, H.H.-S.; Byrne, J.; Cheng, S.-H.; Kwok, R.C.-W. The samal model for affective learning. In 17th international conference on distributed multimedia systems, DMS 2011; Knowledge Systems Institute Graduate School: 2011; pp. 216-221.
  4. Browning, D.R.; Cruz-Neira, C.; Sandin, D.J.; DeFanti, T.A. The CAVE automatic virtual environment: Projection-based virtual environments and disability. In Proceedings of the The First Annual International Conference, Virtual Reality and People with Disabilities, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1st June, 1993.
  5. Neisser, U. Memory: What are the important questions. In Memory observed: Remembering in natural contexts, Neisser, U., Ed.; Freeman: San Francisco, 1982; pp. 3-19.
  6. Gernsbacher, M.A.; Morson, E.M.; Grace, E.J. Language development in autism. In Neurobiology of language, Hickok, G., Small, S.L., Eds.; Academic Press: San Diego, 2016; pp. 879-886. Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 3 February 2022 doi:10.20944/preprints202202.0056.v1 175.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zhang, M., Ding, H., & Zhang, Y.
Affiliations
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
  • University of Minnesota (US)
Corresponding author
  • Ding, Hongwei
  • Zhang, Yang
Venue
Behavioral Sciences
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2022-02-03
Volume
12
Issue
5
Pages
138-138
ISSN
2076-328X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4280547228
Cited by
211
References
200
Citations by year
2026: 33 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 6
FWCI
6.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Social Science Fund of China (18ZDA293)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
Keywords
virtual reality, autism spectrum disorder, children, social communication, social skills training, emotion recognition, speech and language intervention, social skills, cognitive training, linguistic diversity

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review