Do masks cover more than just a face? A study on how facemasks affect the perception of emotional expressions according to their degree of intensity

Thomas, Pauline J. N.; Caharel, Stéphanie

doi:10.1177/03010066231201230

Perception

2023

DOI: 10.1177/03010066231201230

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Do masks cover more than just a face? A study on how facemasks affect the perception of emotional expressions according to their degree of intensity

Pauline J. N. Thomas,

Stéphanie Caharel

Abstract: Emotional facial expressions convey crucial information in nonverbal communication and serve as a mediator in face-to-face relationships. Their recognition would rely on specific facial traits depending on the perceived emotion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a facemask has thus disrupted the human ability to read emotions from faces. Yet, these effects are usually assessed across studies from faces expressing stereotypical and exaggerated emotions, which is far removed from real-life conditions. The ob… Show more

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2024

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Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications

(132 reference statements)

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Inferring social signals from the eyes in male schizophrenia

Resch,

Moosavi,

Sokolov

et al. 2024

Schizophr

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Nonverbal communication habitually leaks out in ways that expose underlying thoughts, true feelings, and integrity of a counterpart. Social cognition is deficient in a wide range of mental disorders, including schizophrenia (SZ). Inferring social signals through the eyes is pivotal for social interaction but remains poorly investigated. The present work aims to fill this gap by examining whether and, if so, how reading language of the eyes is altered in SZ. We focused on male SZ, primarily because the disorder manifests a gender-specific profile. Patients and matched typically developing (TD) individuals were administered the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test-Modified (RMET-M) and Emotions in Masked Faces (EMF) task that provide comparable visual information. The findings indicate that in SZ, the emotion recognition profile is similar to TD, with a more accurate recognition of some emotions such as fear, neutral expressions, and happiness than the others (sadness and disgust). In SZ, however, this profile is shifted down: all emotions are recognized less accurately than in TD. On the RMET-M, patients are also less precise, albeit they perform better on items with positive valence. In SZ only, recognition accuracy on both tasks is tightly linked to each other. The outcome reveals global challenges for males with SZ in inferring social information in the eyes and calls for remediation programs to shape social cognition. This work offers novel insights into the profiles of social cognitive deficits in mental disorders that differ in their gender prevalence.

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Inferring social signals from the eyes in male schizophrenia

Resch,

Moosavi,

Sokolov

et al. 2024

Schizophr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

‘The mirror of the soul?’ Inferring sadness in the eyes

Moosavi,

Resch,

Sokolov

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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The eyes are widely regarded as the mirror of the soul, providing reliable nonverbal information about drives, feelings, and intentions of others. However, it is unclear how accurate emotion recognition is when only the eyes are visible and whether inferring of emotions is altered across healthy adulthood. To fill this gap, the present piece of research was directed at comparing the ability to infer basic emotions in two groups of typically developing females that differed in age. We set a focus on females seeking group homogeneity. In a face-to-face study, in a two-alternative forced choice paradigm (2AFC), participants had to indicate emotions for faces covered by masks. The outcome reveals that although the recognition pattern is similar in both groups, inferring sadness in the eyes substantially improves with age. Inference of sadness is not only more accurate and less variable in older participants, but also positively correlates with age from early through mid-adulthood. Moreover, reading sadness (and anger) is more challenging in the eyes of male posers. A possible impact of poser gender and cultural background, both in expressing and inferring sadness in the eyes, is highlighted.

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Reading language of the eyes in female depression

Moosavi,

Resch,

Lecchi

et al. 2024

Cerebral Cortex

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Aberrations in non-verbal social cognition have been reported to coincide with major depressive disorder. Yet little is known about the role of the eyes. To fill this gap, the present study explores whether and, if so, how reading language of the eyes is altered in depression. For this purpose, patients and person-by-person matched typically developing individuals were administered the Emotions in Masked Faces task and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, modified, both of which contained a comparable amount of visual information available. For achieving group homogeneity, we set a focus on females as major depressive disorder displays a gender-specific profile. The findings show that facial masks selectively affect inferring emotions: recognition of sadness and anger are more heavily compromised in major depressive disorder as compared with typically developing controls, whereas the recognition of fear, happiness, and neutral expressions remains unhindered. Disgust, the forgotten emotion of psychiatry, is the least recognizable emotion in both groups. On the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test patients exhibit lower accuracy on positive expressions than their typically developing peers, but do not differ on negative items. In both depressive and typically developing individuals, the ability to recognize emotions behind a mask and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test are linked to each other in processing speed, but not recognition accuracy. The outcome provides a blueprint for understanding the complexities of reading language of the eyes within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Do masks cover more than just a face? A study on how facemasks affect the perception of emotional expressions according to their degree of intensity

Cited by 3 publications

References 50 publications

Inferring social signals from the eyes in male schizophrenia

Inferring social signals from the eyes in male schizophrenia

‘The mirror of the soul?’ Inferring sadness in the eyes

Reading language of the eyes in female depression

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