Perception of the AAC Graphic Symbols and SNS Emoticons for Emotional Words in Normal Adults

Abstract

This paper was extracted from the Master's thesis of the first author (2020). Objectives: Expressing emotional feelings is essential in one's effective communication functions and social participation. Although several emotional graphic symbols are available for AAC speakers, the usefulness of the emoticons provided by social network services needs to be identified for the potential of usage in the area of AAC. This study aims to identify the effect of two types of AAC graphic symbols (PCS and Ewha-AAC), and two types of SNS emoticons (face expression-oriented and face & body-part expression oriented emoticons used in KakaoTalk). Methods: Thirty-two normal adults (mean age= 25.91, SD= 4.68) accomplished the symbol-naming task for the eight emotional words ('worried' , 'fine' , 'surprised' , 'fearful' , 'angry' , 'happy' , 'sad' , and 'shy'). After providing the visual stimuli on a computer screen, participants were asked to match the meaning from the given word choices. Participants' accuracy scores and response times were analyzed. Results: Higher task performance was found in the condition of KakaoTalk emoticon and Ewha-AAC symbols which represent the emotion by facial expression and body part motion. Likewise, a fast response was found in these two conditions. Conclusion: Considering the common characteristics of these two visual materials, the representation of both facial expression and body-part pose seems to facilitate participants' cognitive process of retrieving the meaning of the visual stimuli in an accurate and fast fashion.