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

Abstract

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.