Teaching Social Communication Skills Through Human-Agent Interaction

There are a large number of computer-based systems that aim to train and improve social skills. However, most of these do not resemble the training regimens used by human instructors. In this article, we propose a computer-based training system that follows the procedure of social skills training (SST), a well-established method to decrease human anxiety and discomfort in social interaction, and acquire social skills. We attempt to automate the process of SST by developing a dialogue system named the automated social skills trainer, which teaches social communication skills through human-agent interaction. The system includes a virtual avatar that recognizes user speech and language information and gives feedback to users. Its design is based on conventional SST performed by human participants, including defining target skills, modeling, role-play, feedback, reinforcement, and homework. We performed a series of three experiments investigating (1) the advantages of using computer-based training systems compared to human-human interaction (HHI) by subjectively evaluating nervousness, ease of talking, and ability to talk well; (2) the relationship between speech language features and human social skills; and (3) the effect of computer-based training using our proposed system. Results of our first experiment show that interaction with an avatar decreases nervousness and increases the user's subjective impression of his or her ability to talk well compared to interaction with an unfamiliar person. The experimental evaluation measuring the relationship between social skill and speech and language features shows that these features have a relationship with social skills. Finally, experiments measuring the effect of performing SST with the proposed application show that participants significantly improve their skill, as assessed by separate evaluators, by using the system for 50 minutes. A user survey also shows that the users thought our system is useful and easy to use, and that interaction with the avatar felt similar to HHI.