The Office of Naval Research (ONR) www.onr.navy.mil has developed an app that may be able to screen for autism by reading kids’ facial expressions for emotional clues. The app called “Autism & Beyond” was developed by researchers and software developers at Duke University and the Duke Medical Center. “The long term implications of this research project are huge,” said Dr. Predrag Neskovic, a program officer in ONR’s Mathematical Data Science program.
The app has children complete a series of questionnaires and watch short videos designed to make them smile, laugh, and be surprised. Parents or caregivers use an iPhone’s user facing “smile” camera to record the children’s facial movements for evaluation by doctors, researchers, and by the use of software.
The app’s core technical component is a complex mathematical algorithm that automatically maps key landmarks on children’s faces and assesses emotional responses based on movements of facial muscles.
Dr. Guillermo Sapiro, Professor at Duke University, developer of the algorithm, explains, “While children are watching a funny video, they are being observed to see if the child smiles, looks towards the parent or caregiver or asks them to view the video as well. The reason for the observation is to see if there is lack of emotion and social sharing which can be possible characteristics of childhood autism.
Sapiro stresses that the app isn’t a self-diagnosis resource, but is intended to serve as a potential screening tool for autism and other developmental challenges and encourages users to contact a physician for specialized testing.
Once the autism studies are complete, Sapiro hopes to expand and tailor the app to conditions suffered by warfighters including PTSD, TBI, and depression. Autism facial expressions can also indicate the presence of these disorders.
Sapiro said, “We hope to find the right partner and develop a research app to study PTSD. We have already received interest from a Veterans Affairs center about using this technology in veterans’ homes to monitor behavior for signs of depression.”
Go to https://autismandbeyond.researchkit.duke.edu for more information on the study.