Remembering to whom we transmit information during pandemics: the effect of face masks on destination memory

Abstract

Considering the global pandemic we currently experience, face masks have become standard in our daily routine. Even though surgical masks are established as a safety measure against the dissemination of COVID-19, previous research showed that their wearing compromises face recognition. Consequently, the capacity to remember to whom we transmit information—destination memory—could also be compromised. In our study, through a between-participants design (experiment 1) and a within-participants design (experiment 2), undergraduate students have to transmit Portuguese proverbs to masked and unmasked celebrity faces. Following our hypothesis, participants who shared information with masked faces had worse destination memory performance than those who shared information with unmasked faces. Also, we observed lower recognition for masked faces compared to unmasked faces. These results were expected since using a surgical mask affects facial recognition, thus making it harder to recognize a person to whom information was previously transmitted. More importantly, these results also support the idea that variables associated with the recipient’s face are important for destination memory performance.

Memory in Social Interactions: The Effects of Introspection on Destination Memory in Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Impairments in social cognition in TBI have also been reported by research on destination memory. Destination memory refers to the ability to remember to whom a piece of information was previously transmitted [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Research has demonstrated a decline in destination memory in TBI, which was found to be related to the ability to represent, conceptualize, and reason about others’ mental states [ 11 , 18 , 26 ].…”

“…Impairments in social cognition in TBI have also been reported by research on destination memory. Destination memory refers to the ability to remember to whom a piece of information was previously transmitted [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Research has demonstrated a decline in destination memory in TBI, which was found Brain Sci.…”