Artificial scaffolding: Augmenting social cognition by means of robot technology

The concept of scaffolding refers to the support that the environment provides in the acquisition and consolidation of new abilities. Technological advancements allow for support in the acquisition of cognitive capabilities, such as second language acquisition using simple smartphone applications There is, however, one domain of cognition that has been scarcely addressed in the context of technologically assisted scaffolding: social cognition. We explored the possibility of supporting the acquisition of social competencies of a group of children with autism spectrum disorder engaged in a rehabilitation program (age = 5.8 ± 1.14, 10 females, 33 males) by designing two robot-assisted training protocols tailored to Theory of Mind competencies. One protocol was performed with a humanoid robot and the other (control) with a non-anthropomorphic robot. We analyzed changes in NEPSY-II scores before and after the training using mixed effects models. Our results showed that activities with the humanoid significantly improved NEPSY-II scores on the ToM scale. We claim that the motor repertoire of humanoids makes them ideal platforms for artificial scaffolding of social skills in individuals with autism, as they can evoke similar social mechanisms to those elicited in human-human interaction, without providing the same social pressure that another human might exert.