Impressions of Humanness for Android Robot may Represent an Endophenotype for Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 632 - 634
• Main Authors: Kumazaki, Hirokazu, Warren, Zachary, Swanson, Amy, Yoshikawa, Yuichiro, Matsumoto, Yoshio, Ishiguro, Hiroshi, Sarkar, Nilanjan, Minabe, Yoshio, Kikuchi, Mitsuru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Attitudes; Adolescents; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Candidates; Child; Child and School Psychology; Children; Endophenotypes; Etiology; Female; Genetics; Humans; Impressions; Individual Characteristics; Intelligence; Letter to the Editor; Male; Neurosciences; Parent Attitudes; Parents; Pathophysiology; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Psychology; Public Health; Robotics; Robots; Social Perception; Autism spectrum disorders; Heterogeneity; Android robot; Humanness; Endophenotype
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3365-0

Identification of meaningful endophenotypes may be critical to unraveling the etiology and pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We investigated whether impressions of “humanness” for android robot might represent a candidate characteristic of an ASD endophenotype. We used a female type of android robot with an appearance similar to that of a real person. Significant differences in overall impressions of ‘humanness’ for android robot were found between adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD) controls, as well as parents of children with ASD and parents of TD controls. Our current work does suggest robotic systems could potentially play an intelligent role in dissecting ASD heterogeneity.