Summary
Background: Recognizing facial expressions is an important social skill. In some psychological
disorders such as schizophrenia, loss of this skill may complicate the patient’s daily
life. Prior research has shown that information technology may help to develop facial
expression recognition skills through educational software and games.
Objectives: To examine if a computer game designed for teaching facial expressions would improve
facial expression recognition skills of patients with schizophrenia.
Methods: We developed a website composed of eight serious games. Thirty-two patients were
given a pre-test composed of 21 facial expression photographs. Eighteen patients were
in the study group while 14 were in the control group. Patients in the study group
were asked to play the games on the website. After a period of one month, we performed
a post-test for all patients.
Results: The median score of the correct answers was 17.5 in the control group whereas it
was 16.5 in the study group (of 21) in pretest. The median post-test score was 18
in the control group (p=0.052) whereas it was 20 in the study group (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Computer games may be used for the purpose of educating people who have difficulty
in recognizing facial expressions.
Citation: Gülkesen KH, Işleyen F, Cinemre B, Şamur MK, Sen Kaya S, Zayim N. A web-based
game for teaching facial expressions to schizophrenic patients. Appl Clin Inform 2017;
8: 719–730 https://doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2016-10-RA-0172
Keywords
Facial expression - video games - schizophrenia
