JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Given the interactive media characteristics and intrinsically motivating appeal, virtual serious games are often praised for their potential in assessment and treatment. The aim of this study is to validate a virtual serious game (e-motion1.0) in order to evaluate emotional facial expression recognition and social skills, components of theory of mind. A total of 1.236 children took part in the study. The children were classified by age (8-12 years old), gender (males = 639; females = 597) and educational level (3rd – 6th Primary level). Ten schools from the Basque Country and twenty trained evaluators participated in this study. Differences were found in e-motion1.0 scores between groups of children depending on age (p< 0.01) and gender (p< 0.05). Moreover, there was a moderate significant correlation (p< 0.05) between the emotional recognition scores of e-motion1.0 and those of the Feel facial recognition test (Kessler, 2002; Lázaro et al., 2016). E-motion1.0 shows concurrent validity with instruments that assess emotional recognition. Results support the adequacy of e-motion1.0 in assessing components of theory of mind in children.