Assessing and Optimizing Socio-Moral Reasoning Skills: Findings From the MorALERT Serious Video Game

BACKGROUND: Social cognition and competence are a key part of daily interactions and essential for satisfying relationships and well-being. Pediatric neurological and psychological conditions can affect social cognition and require assessment and remediation of social skills. To adequately approximate the complex and dynamic nature of real-world social interactions, innovative tools are needed. The aim of this study was to document the performance of adolescents on two versions of a serious video game presenting realistic, everyday, socio-moral conflicts, and to explore whether their performance is associated with empathy or sense of presence, factors known to influence social cognition. METHODS: Participants (12–17 years, M = 14.39; SD = 1.35) first completed a pre-test measure of socio-moral reasoning based on three dilemmas from a previously validated computer task. Then, they either played an evaluative version (n = 24) or an adaptive (n = 33) version of a video game presenting nine social situations in which they made socio-moral decisions and provided justifications. In the evaluative version, participants’ audio justifications were recorded verbatim and coded manually to obtain a socio-moral reasoning maturity score. In the adaptive version (AV), tailored feedback and social reinforcements were provided based on participant responses. An automatic coding algorithm developed using artificial intelligence was used to determine socio-moral maturity level in real-time and to provide a basis for the feedback and reinforcements in the game. All participants then completed a three-dilemma post-test assessment. RESULTS: Those who played the adaptive version showed improved SMR across the pre-test, in-game and post-test moral maturity scores, F(1.97,63.00) = 9.81, p(HF) < 0.001, ϵ(2) = 0.21, but those who played the Evaluative version did not. Socio-moral reasoning scores from both versions combined did not correlate with empathy or sense of presence during the game, though results neared significance. The study findings support preliminary validation of the game as a promising method for assessing and remediating social skills during adolescence.