JP6518889B2 - Method for supporting evaluation of communication ability and evaluation system for the ability - Google Patents

Description

  The present specification relates to a method for supporting evaluation of communication ability, an evaluation system of the ability, and the like.

  Communication disorders include autism spectrum disorders. Autism spectrum disorder is a concept including autism, Asperger disorder, and unspecific pervasive developmental disorder. According to DSM-5 (Non-Patent Document 1), which is a diagnostic standard of recent psychiatric disorders, autism spectrum disorder has two major characteristics. One is the qualitative impairment of social interaction (mainly non-verbal communication) and communication (mainly verbal communication), and the other is limited interest and behavior. In recent years, it has also been found that the same type of autistic tendency also exists in routine development. The continuous tendency that exists from these persons with disabilities to those with regular development is called autism spectrum tendency.

  In particular, as scientific facts related to the former feature (social interaction and qualitative impairment of communication), the decline of imitation of non-verbal behavior (especially, unknowingly occurring imitation) has been reported (Non-patent Document 2) ). According to this report, the decrease in the imitation behavior is also reported in the typical autistic people with autism spectrum tendency (Non-patent Document 3).

  Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has generally been made by psychiatrists, pediatricians, clinical psychologists, etc. based on the observation results of the social behavior etc. of subjects. In addition, when quantifying up to the autism spectrum tendency, a questionnaire is used.

  On the other hand, an autism diagnosis support device (patent document 1) etc. which measures eye movement are also developed.

JP, 2013-223713, A

http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx McIntosh, DN, Reichmann-Decker, A., Winkielman, P., and Wilbarger, JL (2006). “When the social mirror breaks: deficits in automatic, but not voluntary, mimic emotional facial expressions in autism,” Dev. Sci. 9, 295-302. Hermans, EJ, Van Wingen, G., Bos, PA, Putman, P., and Van Honk, J. (2009). “Reduced spontaneous facial mimicry in women with autistic traits,” Biol. Psychol. 80, 348-353 .

  No effective treatment for autism spectrum disorders has been found so far. Therefore, early detection and early educational intervention are required for autism spectrum disorders. However, there are few specialists with autism spectrum disorders and diagnosis is not easy. In addition, since the autism spectrum tendency is self-contained, the problem of lack of objectivity can not be excluded.

  Furthermore, in the autism diagnosis support device etc., the subject is limited to the patient, and a special device such as eye movement measurement is required.

  The present specification provides a method for objectively evaluating the ability of social interaction and communication that characterizes autism spectrum disorder and autism spectrum tendency, a system used for the method, and the like.

  The present inventors inferred that the magnitude of the influence of the movement of one of the two in the communicable state from the movement of the other is strongly related to the autism spectrum tendency. Furthermore, autism spectrum disorder including autism spectrum tendency, communication in a broad sense, if it is possible to easily measure the imitation behavior in the actual communicable state and the susceptibility to the influence from the other party causing it. I speculated that it would be possible to measure the ability. The present inventors conducted various studies and applied causal analysis to body movements such as two-person sway in the state of being able to communicate with each other. And, by this causal analysis, we succeeded in separating the two-way influence quantity and individually measuring the susceptibility of the other movement as the causal influence quantity. Furthermore, we have obtained the finding that this causal influence quantity shows a certain relationship with the autism place spectrum tendency.

  In the present specification, “communication” includes non-language and language communication. Non-verbal and verbal communication is based on the fact that “social interaction” and “communication” in DSM-5, which are diagnostic criteria for mental illness, mean non-verbal communication and verbal communication, respectively. Thus, the term "communication" includes both non-verbal communication and verbal communication, but one or both of them may be intended. Non-verbal communication typically includes eye contact and gestures. Moreover, as verbal communication, a conversation etc. are typically mentioned.

  Also, "communication ability" shall mean the ability to carry out such communication. Communication skills are widely known to be associated with autism spectrum disorders and autism spectrum trends.

  According to the present specification, the following means are provided based on these findings.

(1) An evaluation support method for communication ability
Obtaining movement information on an unintended motion occurring in a first subject and an object capable of communicating with the first subject so as to be communicable with each other for a predetermined time period;
Performing causal analysis on both of the motion information to identify a causal influence amount that the first subject receives from the object;
Equipped with
Supporting evaluation of the first subject's communication ability based on the causal influence amount.
(2) The method according to (1), wherein the step of acquiring the exercise information is a step of opposingly arranging the both in a standing position and acquiring the exercise information.
(3) The method according to (1) or (2), wherein the step of obtaining the motion information is a step of obtaining motion information based on the movement of the center of gravity of the two as the motion information.
(4) The method according to (3), wherein the center of gravity movement is a center of gravity movement along the opposing direction of the two.
(5) The subject is a second subject,
The method according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the step of identifying the causal influence amount is a step of also identifying a causal influence amount that the second subject receives from the first subject.
(6) The method according to any one of (1) to (5), which supports diagnosis of autism spectrum tendency based on the evaluation result of the communication ability.
(7) The method according to any one of (1) to (5), which supports diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder based on the evaluation result of the communication ability.
(8) An evaluation support method for relative communication ability in a group including a plurality of subjects,
Acquiring motion information on unintended motions occurring in both of the two subjects selected from the plurality of subjects at the same time over a predetermined time period, in a state where the two pairs selected from the plurality of subjects are communicably disposed;
Performing causal analysis on the motion information of the two to identify a causal influence amount that each of the two receives from the other;
, For the plurality of subjects,
A method for supporting evaluation of relative communication ability in the group based on the causal influence amount of the plurality of subjects.
(9) It is an evaluation system of communication ability,
Exercise information acquisition for acquiring exercise information on unintended motions occurring in a first subject and an object capable of communicating with the first subject so as to be able to communicate with each other over a predetermined period of time in a state where communication is possible Means,
A means for performing causal analysis on both of the motion information to identify a causal influence amount received by the first subject from the object;
A system comprising:
(10) The system according to (9), wherein the means for acquiring motion information comprises a center of gravity fluctuation measurement unit.
(11) It is an evaluation device of communication ability,
Exercise information acquisition for acquiring exercise information on unintended motions occurring in a first subject and an object capable of communicating with the first subject so as to be able to communicate with each other over a predetermined period of time in a state where communication is possible Department,
A causal influence amount identification unit that performs causal analysis on the motion information of the two and identifies a causal influence amount that the first subject receives from the object;
An apparatus comprising:

It is a figure which shows an example of the evaluation system of communication ability. It is a figure which shows an example of the flow of the evaluation support method of communication ability. It is a figure which shows correlation with a noise contribution rate (causal influence amount) and an AQ score.

  The disclosure of the present specification relates to an evaluation support method of communication ability, an evaluation system of the ability, and the like. According to the present disclosure, the exercise information on the unintended movement of the subject in the communicable state is obtained, and the causal analysis is applied to the exercise information to cause the subject's inherent sensitivity to be a causal effect. Identified as a quantity.

  The causal influence amount obtained by the present disclosure is the sensitivity of the subject to the influence of others, and is correlated with the autism spectrum tendency associated with the communication ability. Therefore, according to the present disclosure, the communication ability of the subject can be evaluated based on the causal influence amount.

  According to the present disclosure, evaluation support with high objectivity is possible because exercise information on unintended motion is used. In addition, for the same reason, stable evaluation support is possible. Further, according to the present disclosure, communication ability can be evaluated relatively easily by acquiring motion information on an unintended movement of a subject and analyzing it.

  Moreover, according to the present disclosure, it is possible to simultaneously identify causal influence amounts specific to each of two subjects and evaluate communication ability. Furthermore, the causal influence amount obtained by the present disclosure is subject-specific information. Therefore, using the causal influence amount obtained for a plurality of subjects, it is possible to grasp not only the individual subject's inherent communication ability but also the relative communication ability between a plurality of subjects.

  Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate.

(Method to support evaluation of communication skills)
The evaluation support method of communication ability of the present disclosure is generally a evaluation support method of human communication ability. Further, as described above, the communication ability targeted by the present evaluation support method may be a verbal communication ability, a non-verbal communication ability, or both of them. In addition, it may be autism spectrum disorder or autism spectrum tendency.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a system 10 for implementing the present evaluation support method, and FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of the present evaluation support method. Hereinafter, the present system 10 will be described, and then the present evaluation support method will be described.

(Evaluation support system for communication skills)
In the communication ability evaluation system 10 of the present disclosure shown in FIG. 1, in a state in which a first subject and an object capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged to be able to communicate, both are simultaneously performed for a predetermined time. Motion information acquiring means 20 for acquiring motion information on each of unintended motions that occur in the subject and causal analysis based on the respective motion information of the two, thereby identifying the causal influence amount that the first subject receives from the object And a causal influence amount identification means 40. According to this system, the communication ability of the subject can be evaluated objectively, and can be stably and easily evaluated.

  In the aspect shown in FIG. 1, the present evaluation system 10 is intended to evaluate the communication ability of the first subject 2 and the target object 4 under the communication state in the standing position. As shown in FIG. 1, the evaluation system 10 includes, as the motion information acquisition unit 20, a center-of-gravity fluctuation measurement unit. The body sway measuring unit is provided with two body sway measuring devices capable of measuring the sway of the center of gravity of both the first subject 2 and the object 4.

  Furthermore, the present system 10 is provided with communication means such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) that outputs the motion information input to the motion information acquisition means 20 to the causal influence amount identification means 40. Note that the communication means is not limited to this, and other than various wired and wireless communications, communication via the Internet, etc. may be used if there is sufficient accuracy for synchronization.

  The evaluation system 10 includes, as the causal influence amount identifying means 40, a computer that can be provided with a control means such as a CPU, a storage means, and the like. The computer is configured to be able to execute a program for performing causal analysis on the acquired motion information. The computer is configured to wait for the input of the motion information, perform causal analysis on the causal influence amount based on the input motion information, and execute identification of the causal effect amount.

(Method to support evaluation of communication skills)
Hereinafter, the present evaluation support method will be described with reference to the flow of the present evaluation support method shown in FIG. 1 and the present evaluation support method shown in FIG. 2 as appropriate. Note that various aspects of the present evaluation support method in the following description are also applied to the present evaluation system shown in FIG.

  The present evaluation support method can include step S100 of acquiring motion information, and step S200 of identifying a causal influence amount by causal analysis based on the acquired motion information. The present evaluation system 10 can execute these steps S100 and S200.

(Step of acquiring exercise information) (step S100)
Step S100 of acquiring the motion information is an intentional occurrence that occurs simultaneously in a predetermined period of time in a state in which the first subject 2 and the subject 4 capable of communicating with the first subject can communicate with each other. It can be a step of acquiring motion information on movement.

(First subject)
The first subject 2 in the present step S100 is an evaluation target of communication ability. The first subject 2 is preferably a human, and is not particularly limited, but is preferably an individual with a possibility of autism spectrum disorder or autism spectrum tendency. It may be a regular developer.

  The first subject 2 is preferably an individual who can stand still. It is because movement information can be acquired by simple measurement, such as center-of-gravity sway, as will be described later, if it is such an individual. In addition, the individual may not necessarily stand still and can not stand. For example, it may be a baby who is under 0 or 2 years old. In the case of such an individual, exercise information may be acquired in a sitting position where the individual can generally rest. Specifically, it may be held in a sitting position on the knee of an individual such as a mother, or may be fixed in a sitting position by an appropriate holding tool.

(Target object)
The object 4 capable of communicating with the first subject 2 may be a human or, for example, a robot.

  The subject 4 is preferably human, as is the first subject 2. In addition, the object 4 is preferably an individual subject to whom communication ability is to be evaluated, as in the case of the first subject 2. By doing this, it is possible to simultaneously identify inherent causal influences on the two and evaluate communication ability. The subject 4 may be the same as or the same as the first subject 2. Also, the age difference with the first subject 2 is not particularly limited.

  In the present evaluation support method, the target object 4 may be a robot. In order for the robot to communicate with the first subject 2, the robot generates a motion having a predetermined relevance to the motion of the first subject 2, that is, a predetermined causal influence amount. Preferably it is programmed as such. The robot is preferably a humanoid robot with an outline that mimics the appearance of a human. The robot may be programmed such that the robot itself detects the movement of the first subject 2 and performs a predetermined movement accordingly, or the first subject 2 detected by the robot itself or other than the robot It may be controlled from the outside according to the movement of. Those skilled in the art can appropriately combine such detection modes and control modes by the humanoid robot with the present evaluation support method. When the object 4 is a robot, the robot can be included in the present system 10.

  In the present step S100, the first subject 2 and the target object 4 are disposed in a communicable manner. The two may be arranged in any way as long as they can communicate. For example, although it is possible to arrange them side by side so that only faces face each other, the arrangement is preferably opposite. That is, it is preferable that both be disposed opposite to each other in a state in which they face each other. In the opposite arrangement, it tends to be easy to acquire motion information on unintended movement.

  In order for both parties to be able to communicate, for example, in an opposing arrangement, the distance between them is preferably within 1 m. Within this range, the eye contact is easy between the two, and the other's movement is easy to grasp, and the causal influence amount is easily reflected in the motion information. On the other hand, the distance between the two is preferably 10 cm or more. If it is less than 10 cm, it may be too close to interfere with acquisition of stable exercise information. In order to improve the accuracy of the present evaluation support method, it is preferable that the distance between the two be 10 cm or more and 100 cm or less as close as possible. More preferably, it is 15 cm or more and 70 cm or less, and still more preferably 20 cm. The distance between the first subject and the object can be defined, for example, by the distance from the opposing toe to the other toe.

  Moreover, in order to enable communication, it is preferable that the difference in eye height between the first subject and the object is within 20 cm. Within this range, eye contact is easy, and a causal influence amount is likely to be reflected in motion information. In order to improve the accuracy of the evaluation support method, the difference is more preferably within 15 cm, still more preferably within 10 cm, and still more preferably within 5 cm.

  The adjustment of the eye height between the first subject and the subject is not only by combining the first subject with the extension or height within the above range, but also by adjusting the placement height of both. It is also good. For example, when exercise information is measured in a standing position, the standing height position may be adjusted.

  As the communicable state, in addition to the simplest eye contact, it may be a communicable state by conversation, or these may be combined. In the case of eye contact, it is necessary to open the eye, but in the case of conversation only, the eye need not necessarily be open. In addition, when making communication possible only by eye contact, in addition to instructing the first subject 2 to look at the eyes of the subject, communication, that is, what the subject thinks about, what kind of character It is preferable to impose auxiliary tasks to consider whether it is a background or a background. In addition, also when the state which can be communicated by conversation is included, it opposingly arranges within the above-mentioned range substantially. In the present disclosure, it is preferable that the order of the two movements is not clear according to the influence from the environment and the purpose of communication in order to target the causal influence amount that reflects the characteristic unique to the individual. Further, in the present disclosure, exercise information on unintended motion is acquired, and therefore, in the case of adopting an intentional communication state, an eye among a plurality of exercise information generated in the communication state is an eye. It is preferable that motion information which is hard to include intentional movements such as contact and center of gravity sway can be acquired independently of the movement information of intentional movements. Furthermore, it is more preferable to adopt a communicable state such as eye contact, which does not involve a large movement and is hard to include intentional movement.

  Furthermore, prior to acquisition of exercise information, the first subject 2 and the object 4 are placed in a state suitable for acquiring exercise information described later. Here, the motion information is information on unintended motions occurring at the same time in a predetermined period of time. Unintentional movement specifically means movement in a situation where no exercise task or experimental stimulus is given. More specifically, for example, there are motions in a situation in which a task of giving no intentional motion is given, and unintentional movements in a intentional communication state.

  In this evaluation support method, it is possible to evaluate with excellent objectivity and stability by using motion information on such unintended motion.

  Such movement information may include, for example, movement of the center of gravity. This is because movement of the center of gravity tends to reflect unintended movement. Also, movement of the center of gravity is advantageous in that it can be measured easily. The movement of the center of gravity includes various types such as movement in the opposite axial direction along the direction in which the first subject and the object are facing, the direction orthogonal to the opposite axis, and all directions. Preferably, the movement of the center of gravity in the opposite axial direction is mentioned. This is because the movement of the center of gravity tends to reflect the causal influence amount.

  When acquiring the movement of the center of gravity as motion information, the first subject 2 and the target object 4 can be placed in the stationary standing position or the stationary sitting position, but as shown in FIG. . It is because it is easy to measure an unintended movement as center-of-gravity movement if it is a standing position. In addition, in order to facilitate measurement of the movement of the center of gravity, it is preferable to appropriately set the distance between the two feet in the standing position (the distance between the left and right toes). In order to accurately measure center of gravity sway, it is preferable that the left and right feet do not touch at any point. For example, it is preferable to be as close as possible within the range of 3 cm or more and 20 cm or less, more preferably about 5 cm, after satisfying the above-mentioned contact conditions.

  In addition, other exercise information includes movement of one or more points of the first subject 2 and the subject 4. This is because movements of parts of the body tend to reflect unintended movements. These movements are related to subtle facial expression changes (including blinks), such as movements in details such as the forehead, eyeball area, mouth, and fingertips, as well as rough points such as the head, hands, elbows, and shoulders. The movement may be The total amount or the like of one or more movements selected from such points may be mentioned as other exercise information.

  When acquiring movement of a point on the body as exercise information, the first subject 2 and the subject 4 can be placed in a stationary standing position or a stationary sitting position, but are preferably in a stationary standing position. It is because it is easy to measure an unintended movement as movement of each point if it is a standing position. As in the case of the movement of the center of gravity, the distance between toes in the standing position can be appropriately set.

  In this step S100, in such a state, that is, in a state of being arranged to be able to communicate, exercise information regarding an unintended motion occurring at the same time in both over a predetermined time is acquired. Acquisition of motion information varies depending on the type of motion information, but the movement of the center of gravity can be measured by a known center of gravity sway (movement) meter etc. The movement of each point can be measured by a known motion capture etc. This can be measured by an eye movement measuring instrument etc. The present evaluation system 10 can also include other measuring devices and the like together with necessary data transmission means as appropriate, instead of or together with the barycenter measurement unit or unit as the motion information acquisition means 20.

  By acquiring movement information simultaneously for a predetermined time, causal influence amounts can be identified at a later stage. The length of the predetermined time for acquiring motion information is not particularly limited. Depending on the type of exercise information, it may be a time when a characteristic unique to the first subject 2 or the like may appear. Typically, it takes several tens of seconds to several minutes, preferably 2 minutes or less, more preferably one and a half minutes, and still more preferably about one minute. The motion information is preferably acquired by repeating one or more measurements over such predetermined time. In addition, acquisition of the movement information within predetermined time may be time-sequential, may not necessarily be continuous, and may be discontinuous. The motion information acquired in this way is input to the causal influence amount identifying means 40 of the present evaluation system 10 and subjected to causal analysis.

  By acquiring motion information with an appropriate time accuracy over a predetermined time, a causal influence amount can be identified later. The time accuracy for acquiring motion information is preferably 2 Hz or more and 20 Hz or less. If the accuracy is less than 2 Hz, motion information may be lost, and if it exceeds 20 Hz, the accuracy of causal analysis becomes inaccurate. More preferably, it is 5 Hz or more and 10 Hz or less, and more preferably 10 Hz. In addition, it is possible to acquire motion information with such precision more than a prescription | regulation, and to thin data to a prescription | regulation precision.

  In the case where the object 4 is controlled in advance to move to a predetermined causal influence amount such as a humanoid robot, acquisition of motion information on the object 4 can be simplified or omitted. There is a case.

(Step of identifying causal influence amount) (step S200)
The step of identifying a causal influence amount step S200 is a step of the present evaluation system 10 identifying a causal influence amount that the first subject receives from the object by performing a causal analysis on the respective motion information of the both. can do.

  In step S200, causal analysis is performed on both pieces of motion information acquired in step S100. Causal analysis generally refers to Granger causality (Granger, CW (1969), Investigating causal relationships by economic models and cross-spectral methods. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 424-438) and Akaike's causality (Akaike, H. 1968), “Cause analysis based on multivariate autoregressive model represented by“ On the use of a linear model for the identification of feedback systems, ”Ann. Inst. Stat. Math. 20, 425-439). doing. The causal influence quantities obtained by such causal analysis are mathematically equivalent.

  In order to perform causal analysis on the acquired motion information and identify a causal influence amount, for example, the following procedure can be performed, or a person skilled in the art can appropriately identify the amount. Hereinafter, an example in which a causal influence amount is calculated by applying the Akaike's causality method to time-series data of body sway as motion information will be shown. In the following example, x is a first subject and y is a subject (here, a subject).

  First, time-series data of body sway is analyzed by a multivariate autoregressive model (equations 1 and 2).

  However, in the above equations 1 and 2, x (t) and y (t) are time-series data representing changes in barycentric positions or relative barycentric positions of the two test subjects, a, b, c, d shows the coefficient of the autoregressive model to estimate, respectively.

  This expression means that each center of gravity fluctuation is expressed as a linear sum of values of one's past data and the other's past data multiplied by a coefficient. N is the order of the estimated autoregressive model, which is estimated using the method of Akaike's information criteria (AIC). In order to estimate the order, it is preferable to set the maximum order depending on the time accuracy of the data. For example, the maximum order is preferably equal to or less than the number of data points that can be acquired in 5 seconds with a prescribed time accuracy, and more preferably the number of data points that can be acquired in 1 second. Also, u represents the noise component in the model. After that, an integrated value R of noise contribution rates from x to y and y to x (Equations 3 and 4 indicate cases from y to x) is calculated.

  r is a frequency representation of the noise contribution rate. By integrating r, the integrated noise contribution rate R used in the present invention can be obtained (Equation 4). The integrated value R (Equation 4) can be used as a causal influence amount inherent to x from y to x. The integration range can be set appropriately. Alpha and beta are Fourier transforms of the variables a and b in Equation 1, and σx 2 and σy 2 indicate the variances of noise components (ux, uy) of the variables x and y, respectively. fn is called the Nyquist frequency, and indicates the half value of the sampling rate. Similarly, causal effects of y can be identified.

  When the object is controlled to move in advance such as a humanoid robot to have a predetermined causal influence amount, analysis of the object may be simplified or omitted in some cases.

  The causal influence amount thus obtained is correlated with the autism spectrum tendency. That is, the larger the causal influence amount, the smaller the AQ (autism spectrum quotient) score (score obtained by the questionnaire) used to quantify the autism spectrum tendency including autism spectrum disorder to typical development There is a tendency that the smaller the causal influence quantity, the smaller the AQ score.

  Therefore, by identifying the causal influence amount of the first subject, it is possible to evaluate and support the autism spectrum tendency of the first subject and the communication ability.

  Moreover, according to the present evaluation support method, it is possible to obtain the first subject-specific causal influence amount regardless of what kind of object the first subject is arranged. Further, by setting the subject as the second subject, it is possible to obtain the causal influence amount of both independently at the same time.

  As described above, according to the present evaluation support method, a causal analysis is performed on motion information on unintended motion in a state in which the first subject and the object are placed in a communicable state, Communication ability can be evaluated based on the resulting causal influence amount. Therefore, it is possible to support evaluation (diagnosis) of the autism spectrum disorder and the autism spectrum tendency related to the communication ability more objectively, stably, and easily.

  Furthermore, this evaluation support method can also be used as an evaluation support method of relative communication ability in a group including a plurality of subjects. That is, in a state in which two pairs selected from a plurality of subjects are placed in a communicable manner, exercise information on each unintended body movement occurring in both of them for a predetermined period of time is acquired for a predetermined time. By identifying the causal influence amount that each of the two receives from the other by the causal analysis based on motion information, it is possible to evaluate the relative communication ability in a group of subjects based on the causal influence amount of multiple subjects. . According to this method, it is possible to evaluate the communication ability of a subject in a group more objectively, stably and simply, and to evaluate the communication ability level in the group in addition to the communication ability of the subject.

  According to the above embodiment, there is also provided a communication ability evaluation support method in which the causal influence amount identifying means 40 of the present evaluation system 10 carries out only step S200 for exercise information acquired separately or in advance. There is also provided an evaluation system for communication ability comprising means for identifying a causal influence amount.

  Moreover, according to the above embodiment, the exercise information acquisition method for communication ability evaluation which performs only the process of acquiring the exercise information of the first subject 2 and the target object 4 using the exercise information acquisition means 20 is also Provided. There is also provided an exercise information acquisition system for communication ability evaluation comprising exercise information acquisition means.

  In the above description, it is clear that the evaluation system 10 can be configured in various forms by those skilled in the art. For example, the causal influence amount identification means 40 may not be an independent computer, but may be integrated with the motion information acquisition means 20. Further, the present evaluation system 10 can be provided with an appropriate display means such as a display for displaying exercise information, a causal influence amount and the like.

  Moreover, according to the above embodiment, it is clear that the present evaluation system 10 can also be implemented as an evaluation device. That is, the present evaluation apparatus may be an apparatus including an exercise information acquisition unit and a causal influence amount identification unit.

  Hereinafter, although specific examples embodying the present disclosure will be described, the present disclosure is not limited to the following specific examples.

  Communication ability was evaluated for 38 pairs of women and men (11 women, 8 men, age 22.5 ± 4.6). In this experiment, we adopted stationary standing with eye contact as the simplest communication state, and simultaneously measured the body sway of the two parties using two Wii balance boards (Nintendo). The subject stood upright on the barycenter with an eye-to-eye distance of 20 cm and an open-faced and facing state (see FIG. 1). During the experiment, both subjects were instructed to think about what they were thinking and who they were. He also instructed that he did not perform intentional movements, including counting elapsed time and facial expressions.

  The experiment was measured for 1 minute and repeated a total of 4 times. The barycenter was connected to the computer by wireless connection by Bluetooth, and the time series data of the barycentric position was collected at the sampling rate of 100 Hz. The subject's body sway data were once decimated to 10 Hz, and the causal influence amount was calculated using the Akaike's causality method. As a procedure, time series data of the center of gravity sway was analyzed according to Equations 1 and 2 of the multivariate autoregressive model described above, and the integrated noise contribution rate of both was determined according to Equations 3 and 4 and the like. These were repeated for all pairs, and the cumulative noise contribution rate was determined for all subjects. The Nyquist frequency (fn) is 5 Hz.

  For these subjects, after these experiments, AQ scores showing an autism spectrum tendency were obtained using an AQ score sheet. The results of blotting the integrated noise contribution rate and the AQ score are shown in FIG. 3 and Table 1. In addition, it is said that the tendency of autism spectrum disorder will become strong that an AQ score is 35 or more.

  As shown in FIG. 3 and Table 1, a significant correlation was found between the cumulative noise contribution rate and the autism spectrum tendency (Kendall's τ = −0.245, spearman's == − 0.356, p = 0.028 ). The above results disclose the novel relationship between the autism spectrum tendency and the noise contribution rate in typical developments. That is, by being able to quantify the autism spectrum tendency of not only autism patients but also typical developing persons as noise contribution rate (causal influence amount), it can be widely used for evaluation of communication ability in the real world, etc. I understand. In addition, since the autism spectrum tendency is lower in autism and it is considered that the influence from the other party is less likely to occur, it is understood that the integrated value of the noise contribution rate becomes smaller. Therefore, it was found that the causal influence amount can also be used as a support technology for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, autism spectrum tendency, etc. in a wide age group.

  For example, from the above results, it was also found that the autism spectrum tendency can be estimated by the acquired causal influence amount (noise contribution rate%) based on the correlation between the noise contribution rate (%) and the AQ score. For example, according to the present embodiment (the time accuracy of time information acquisition is 10 Hz), if the noise contribution rate is 2% or more, the possibility of being autism spectrum disorder is low and it is less than 2%. It may be inferred that the possibility of autism spectrum disorder should be taken into consideration that the autism spectrum tendency tends to be higher, and is 1% or less. Note that the noise contribution rate typically depends on the time accuracy of motion information acquisition, and “the noise contribution rate that can be judged as autism spectrum disorder or that there is a possibility is different depending on the time accuracy. That is, the autism spectrum tendency can be estimated from the noise contribution rate specifying the time accuracy, for example, it can be about 1% for 10 Hz and about 2% for 5 Hz as in this embodiment.

2 first subject, 4 subjects, 10 communication ability evaluation system, 20 exercise information acquisition means, 40 causal influence amount identification means

Claims (14)

It is an operating method of the evaluation system of communication ability,
In the above-mentioned system, when the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged to be able to communicate, a situation in which the exercise task and the experimental stimulus generated in both are simultaneously given for a predetermined time. Motion information acquisition means for acquiring motion information (but excluding motion information related to eye movement and motion information accompanied by a conversation in a sitting state) regarding unintended motion that is motion of
Identification means for performing causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifying a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
Equipped with
The motion information acquisition means acquires motion information on the unintended motion occurring in each of the two;
The identification means performing causality analysis using the motion information of the two to identify the first subject-specific causal influence amount;
Equipped with
Supporting evaluation of the first subject's communication ability based on the causal influence amount. It is an operating method of the evaluation system of communication ability,
In the above system, in a state in which the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged in a standing position so as to be able to communicate with each other, exercise tasks and experiments that occur in both simultaneously for a predetermined time Motion information acquisition means for acquiring motion information on an unintended motion that is a motion in a situation where a stimulus is not given;
Identification means for performing causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifying a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
Equipped with
The motion information acquisition means acquires motion information on the unintended motion occurring in each of the two;
The identification means performing causality analysis using the motion information of the two to identify the first subject-specific causal influence amount;
Equipped with
Supporting evaluation of the first subject's communication ability based on the causal influence amount.   The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the step of acquiring the exercise information is a step of the exercise information acquisition means acquiring, as the exercise information, exercise information based on the movement of the center of gravity of the both.   The method according to claim 3, wherein the center of gravity movement is a center of gravity movement along the opposing direction of the two. The subject is a second subject,
The step of identifying the causal influence amount is that the identifying means also identifies a causal influence amount specific to the second subject that the second subject receives from the first subject. The method in any one of 1-4.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein diagnosis of autism spectrum tendency is supported based on the evaluation result of the communication ability. Based on said evaluation result of communication skills, diagnostic support to autism spectrum disorders A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5. It is an operating method of the evaluation system of communication ability,
The above-mentioned system is a movement in the situation where the exercise task and the experimental stimulus which are generated in both at the same time for a predetermined time are not given in the state where two pairs selected from a plurality of subjects are arranged in communication. Motion information acquisition means for acquiring motion information on unintended motion (but excluding motion information on eye movement and motion information with conversation in a sitting state);
Identification means for performing causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifying a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
Equipped with
The exercise information acquisition unit acquires exercise information on an unintended motion occurring in both of a predetermined period of time in a state where two pairs selected from a plurality of subjects are arranged in a communicable manner; When,
The identification means performs analysis of a causal relationship on the motion information of the two to identify a unique causal influence amount that the two receive from each other;
, For the plurality of subjects,
A method for supporting the assessment of relative communication skills in a population comprising the plurality of subjects. It is an operating method of the evaluation system of communication ability,
The above-mentioned system is a movement in the situation where the exercise task and the experimental stimulus which are generated in both at the same time for a predetermined time are not given in the state where two pairs selected from a plurality of subjects are arranged in communication. Motion information acquisition means for acquiring motion information on unintended motion;
Identification means for performing causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifying a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
Equipped with
In the state where the pair consisting of two persons selected from a plurality of subjects is arranged in a standing position so as to be able to communicate with each other, the movement information acquiring means performs movement relating to unintended movement occurring in both simultaneously for a predetermined time. Obtaining information;
The identification means performs analysis of a causal relationship on the motion information of the two to identify a unique causal influence amount that the two receive from each other;
, For the plurality of subjects,
A method for supporting the assessment of relative communication skills in a population comprising the plurality of subjects. It is an evaluation system of communication ability,
In a state where the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged to be able to communicate, the movement in a situation where the exercise task and the experimental stimulus that occur to both are given simultaneously for a predetermined time Motion information acquisition means for acquiring motion information on an unintended motion (but excluding motion information on eye movement and motion information with conversation in a sitting state);
A means for performing causality analysis on the two pieces of exercise information to identify a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
A system comprising: It is an evaluation system of communication ability,
In a state in which the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged in a standing position so as to be able to communicate with each other, the exercise task and the experimental stimulus that occur in both simultaneously for a predetermined time are not given Exercise information acquisition means for acquiring exercise information on unintended movement which is movement in a situation;
A means for performing causality analysis on the two pieces of exercise information to identify a causal influence amount inherent to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
A system comprising:   A system according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the means for acquiring motion information comprises a center of gravity sway measuring unit. It is an evaluation device of communication ability,
In a state where the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged to be able to communicate, the movement in a situation where the exercise task and the experimental stimulus that occur to both are given simultaneously for a predetermined time An exercise information acquisition unit for acquiring exercise information on an unintended movement (but excluding exercise information on eye movement and exercise information accompanied by a conversation in a sitting state);
A causal influence amount identification unit that performs causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifies a causal influence amount specific to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
An apparatus comprising: It is an evaluation device of communication ability,
In a state in which the first subject and the subject capable of communicating with the first subject are arranged in a standing position so as to be able to communicate with each other, the exercise task and the experimental stimulus that occur in both simultaneously for a predetermined time are not given An exercise information acquisition unit for acquiring exercise information on unintended movement which is movement in a situation;
A causal influence amount identification unit that performs causality analysis on the motion information of the two and identifies a causal influence amount specific to the first subject that the first subject receives from the object;
An apparatus comprising: