Touching! An Augmented Reality System for Unveiling Face Topography in Very Young Children

Abstract

Developmental body topography, particularly of the face, is a fundamental research topic in the current decade. However, empirical investigation of this topic for very young children faces a number of difficulties related to the task requirements and technical procedures. In this study, we developed a new task to study the spatially-sensed position of facial parts in a self-face recognition task for 2.5- and 3.5-year-old children. Using the technique of augmented reality (AR) and 3D face tracking technology, we presented participants with their projected self-image on a screen, accompanied by a digital mark located on parts of their face. We prepared a cheerful visual and auditory reward on the screen when participants showed correct localization of the mark. We then tested whether they could indicate the position of the mark on their own faces and remain motivated for task repetition. To assess the efficacy of this task, 31 2.5- and 11 3.5-year-old children participated in this study. About half of the 2.5-year-olds and 80% of the 3.5-year-olds could perform more than 30 trials. Our new task, then, was to maintain young children’s motivation for task repetition using the cheerful visual and auditory reward. The analysis of localization errors suggested the uniqueness of spatial knowledge of self-face in young children. The efficacy of this new task for studying the development of body image has been confirmed.

Tracking Action in XR Mark Test Reveals Developing Body Representation Among Toddlers

“…Most children successfully completed 30 trials, regardless of age (t(28) = -1.57, p = .13, n.s.). This result is consistent with our previous study 15 . This suggests that we were able to maintain the motivation of the participants during the whole-body version.…”

“…First, the experimental procedure, especially for trial repetition, must be sophisticated. We updated the gamification procedure 15 with AI-based online bone estimation using Microsoft Kinect (an infrared sensor device) to Openpose (an image processing library) 16 . In this study, we used Openpose to extend the targeted body parts from the face to the whole body.…”

The Reflected Face as a Mask of the Self: An Appraisal of the Psychological and Neuroscientific Research About Self-face Recognition

“…Results showed that about half of the 2.5 years old children and 80% of the 3.5 years old children could perform more than 30 correct trials (37 was the maximum). Furthermore, the analysis of detection errors suggested the uniqueness of spatial knowledge of self-face in young children, thus confirming the effectiveness of this new paradigm for studying body image development (Miyazaki et al 2019).…”

“…With regard to face image development, a study investigated the spatial location of different parts of one's face in children with 2.5 or 3.5 years of age by using augmented reality and 3D face-building technology (Miyazaki et al 2019). Participants had to locate a sign on their body that they saw in the real-time video in front of them and received a "cheerful" visual and auditory reward in case of correct detection.…”

Using Mobile Augmented Reality to Improve Attention in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…For instance, visual cues are used to teach social skills [24,26,30]. Gamification is used to elicit pretend play [4,37], mapping technology is used to train facial recognition [29,38], and trigger-based modeling is used for education purposes to teach vocabulary [27] and reading [18]. AR-based intervention differentiates itself from traditional interventions in its ability to bridge the gap between physical and virtual worlds [26].…”