Recognition of emotions is affected by face masks

McCrackin, Sarah D.; Capozzi, Francesca; Mendell, Ethan; Provencher, Sabrina; Mayrand, Florence; Ristic, Jelena

doi:10.1167/jov.21.9.2153

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Surprise and sadness were better in the eyes-only condition. Other studies demonstrated that face masks impact recognition of expressions significantly involving lower face features the most (disgust, anger), and emotions involving upper face features the least (fear, surprise) (McCrackin et al, 2021). In sum, previous evidence on the role of face masks in emotion recognition suggests that, overall, masks impede emotional recognition, however, this effect for specific emotions varies from study to study.…”

Section: Significance Statementmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Previous literature suggested that individual differences may predict emotional recognition in general, and also in faces when only eyes are present. For example, persons with higher overall social competence were found to be better at identifying unmasked expressions, while persons with lower trait extraversion and higher trait agreeableness were better at recognizing masked expressions (McCrackin et al, 2021). Besides, people with difficulties in emotional processing such as those with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome were found to have impaired emotion recognition from the eyes alone more than other populations , Wheelwright, & Jolliffe , 1997b).…”

Section: Emotion Recognition: Effects Of Mask Patterns and Colormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Masked Emotions: Do Face Mask Patterns and Colors Affect the Recognition of Emotions?

Blazhenkova¹,

Dogerlioglu-Demir²

2021

Preprint

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Previous research has shown that face masks restrain the ability to perceive social information and readability of emotions. These studies mostly explored the effect of standard medical, often white masks on emotion recognition. However, in reality, many individuals prefer masks with different styles. We investigated whether the appearance of the mask (pattern-angular vs. curvy and color-black vs. white) affected the recognition of emotional states. Participants were asked to identify the emotions on faces covered by masks with different designs. The presence of masks impeded emotional recognition, dropping the accuracy and confidence and increasing reaction times. There were no main effects of angularity vs. curvature or color on emotion recognition, which suggests that mask design may not impair the recognition beyond the effect of mere mask wearing. Besides, we found relationships between individual difference variables such as mask wearing attitudes, mask design preferences, individual traits and emotional recognition. The majority of participants demonstrated positive attitudes towards mask wearing and preferred non-patterned black and white masks. Preferences for white masks were associated with better emotional recognition of masked faces. In contrast, those with negative attitudes towards masks showed lower performance in emotional recognition for masked faces, preferring patterned more than plain masks, perhaps viewing masks as a fashion item rather than a necessity. Moreover, preferences to wear patterned masks were negatively related to actual wearing masks indoors and perceived risks of COVID.

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Section: Significance Statementmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Emotion Recognition: Effects Of Mask Patterns and Colormentioning

confidence: 99%

Masked Emotions: Do Face Mask Patterns and Colors Affect the Recognition of Emotions?

Blazhenkova¹,

Dogerlioglu-Demir²

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Surprise and sadness were better in the eyes-only condition. Other studies demonstrated that face masks impact recognition of expressions significantly involving lower face features the most (disgust, anger), and emotions involving upper face features the least (fear, surprise) (McCrackin et al, 2021 ). In sum, previous evidence on the role of face masks in emotion recognition suggests that, overall, masks impede emotion recognition; however, this effect for specific emotions varies from study to study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The previous literature suggested that individual differences may predict emotion recognition in general, and also in faces when only eyes are visible. For example, persons with higher overall social competence were found to be better at identifying unmasked expressions, while persons with lower trait extraversion and higher trait agreeableness were better at recognizing masked expressions (McCrackin et al, 2021 ). Besides, people with difficulties in emotional processing such as those with high functioning autism or Asperger syndrome were found to have impaired emotion recognition from the eyes alone more than other populations (Baron-Cohen et al, 1997b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Masked emotions: Do face mask patterns and colors affect the recognition of emotions?

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous research has shown that face masks impair the ability to perceive social information and the readability of emotions. These studies mostly explored the effect of standard medical, often white, masks on emotion recognition. However, in reality, many individuals prefer masks with different styles. We investigated whether the appearance of the mask (pattern: angular vs. curvy and color: black vs. white) affected the recognition of emotional states. Participants were asked to identify the emotions on faces covered by masks with different designs. The presence of masks resulted in decreasing accuracy and confidence and increasing reaction times, indicating that masks impair emotion recognition. There were no significant effects of angularity versus curvature or color on emotion recognition, which suggests that mask design may not impair the recognition beyond the effect of mere mask wearing. Besides, we found relationships between individual difference variables such as mask wearing attitudes, mask design preferences, individual traits and emotion recognition. The majority of participants demonstrated positive attitudes toward mask wearing and preferred non-patterned black and white masks. Preferences for white masks were associated with better emotion recognition of masked faces. In contrast, those with negative attitudes toward masks showed marginally poorer performance in emotion recognition for masked faces, and preferred patterned more than plain masks, perhaps viewing masks as a fashion item rather than a necessity. Moreover, preferences to wear patterned masks were negatively related to actual wearing of masks indoors and perceived risks of COVID.

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“…Second, censor bars obscure eye-adjacent areas and hence may impede emotional understanding, which, in turn, may reduce emotional mimicry. Indeed, several recent studies found that partial face occlusion impairs emotion recognition ( Grundmann et al, 2021 ; McCrackin et al, 2021 ; Pazhoohi et al, 2021 ), which then can impact on mimicry ( Kastendieck et al, 2021 ). Further, you are unlikely to meet a person with a black sensor bar in front of their eyes in real life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

I looked at you, you looked at me, I smiled at you, you smiled at me—The impact of eye contact on emotional mimicry

2022

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Eye contact is an essential element of human interaction and direct eye gaze has been shown to have effects on a range of attentional and cognitive processes. Specifically, direct eye contact evokes a positive affective reaction. As such, it has been proposed that obstructed eye contact reduces emotional mimicry (i.e., the imitation of our counterpart’s emotions). So far, emotional mimicry research has used averted-gaze faces or unnaturally covered eyes (with black censor bars) to analyze the effect of eye contact on emotional mimicry. However, averted gaze can also signal disinterest/ disengagement and censor bars obscure eye-adjacent areas as well and hence impede emotion recognition. In the present study (N = 44), we used a more ecological valid approach by showing photos of actors who expressed either happiness, sadness, anger, or disgust while either wearing mirroring sunglasses that obstruct eye contact or clear glasses. The glasses covered only the direct eye region but not the brows, nose ridge, and cheeks. Our results confirm that participants were equally accurate in recognizing the emotions of their counterparts in both conditions (sunglasses vs. glasses). Further, in line with our hypotheses, participants felt closer to the targets and mimicked affiliative emotions more intensely when their counterparts wore glasses instead of sunglasses. For antagonistic emotions, we found the opposite pattern: Disgust mimicry, which was interpreted as an affective reaction rather than genuine mimicry, could be only found in the sunglasses condition. It may be that obstructed eye contact increased the negative impression of disgusted facial expressions and hence the negative feelings disgust faces evoked. The present study provides further evidence for the notion that eye contact is an important prerequisite for emotional mimicry and hence for smooth and satisfying social interactions.

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Recognition of emotions is affected by face masks

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Masked Emotions: Do Face Mask Patterns and Colors Affect the Recognition of Emotions?

Masked Emotions: Do Face Mask Patterns and Colors Affect the Recognition of Emotions?

Masked emotions: Do face mask patterns and colors affect the recognition of emotions?

I looked at you, you looked at me, I smiled at you, you smiled at me—The impact of eye contact on emotional mimicry

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