Virtual reality as a tool for supporting autistic people.

In this talk, Nate will share how virtual reality has transformed our ability to study complex social interactions in autism. He will discuss key insights from VR-based experiments that challenge traditional views of autistic social experiences. He will also highlight emerging applications of VR as a tool to support positive social outcomes, including innovative approaches to job interviews. Finally, he will reflect on the broader potential of VR and artificial agents to promote inclusion and wellbeing for neurodiverse communities.

Associate Professor Nathan Caruana is a cognitive psychologist and social neuroscientist at Flinders University and leads the HAVIC Lab for Human, Artificial and Virtual Interactive Cognition (www.haviclab.com). His research focuses on the brain processes that support social interaction across neurodiversity, including autism and schizophrenia. He was recently awarded the Paul Bourke Award from the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia for pioneering virtual interaction paradigms that have advanced autism and social neuroscience research.