Understanding the Impact of Face Masks on the Processing of Facial Identity, Emotion, Age, and Gender

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges for governments and individuals. Unprecedented efforts at reducing virus transmission launched a novel arena for human face recognition in which faces are partially occluded with masks. Previous studies have shown that masks decrease accuracy of face identity and emotion recognition. The current study focuses on the impact of masks on the speed of processing of these and other important social dimensions. Here we provide a systematic assessment of the impact of COVID-19 masks on facial identity, emotion, gender, and age. Four experiments (N = 116) were conducted in which participants categorized faces on a predefined dimension (e.g., emotion). Both speed and accuracy were measured. The results revealed that masks hindered the perception of virtually all tested facial dimensions (i.e., emotion, gender, age, and identity), interfering with normal speed and accuracy of categorization. We also found that the unwarranted effects of masks were not due to holistic processes, because the Face Inversion Effect (FIE) was generally not larger with unmasked compared with masked faces. Moreover, we found that the impact of masks is not automatic and that under some contexts observers can control at least part of their detrimental effects.

The Effect of Surgical Masks on the Featural and Configural Processing of Emotions

“…However, to date little is known about the specific mechanism that underlies these effects in terms of speed and accuracy. Some insight could be found in the study made by Fitousi and colleagues (2021) [ 30 ], where subjects were asked to discriminate between angry and neutral masked faces in the context of an inverted faces task. Results showed that the facial inversion effect was comparable in masked and unmasked conditions, demonstrating that emotion recognition with masked faces is based on featural rather than configural processing of the seen face.…”

“…Results showed that the facial inversion effect was comparable in masked and unmasked conditions, demonstrating that emotion recognition with masked faces is based on featural rather than configural processing of the seen face. It should be noted that in their experiment Fitousi and colleagues [ 30 ] asked participants to discriminate only between angry and neutral faces and did not investigate the effects on other emotions. In addition to featural and configural characteristics of the stimuli, emotion perception can be affected by personal characteristics of the observer.…”

Improving face identification of mask-wearing individuals

“…Applying this reasoning to the current research, when an eyewitness encounters a masked perpetrator, the face would be processed less holistically (Fitousi et al, 2021 ; Freud et al, 2020 ; McKone et al, 2006 ; Moscovitch et al, 1997 ). 1 Therefore, administering an unmasked lineup would be considered transfer- in appropriate because the full-faces would elicit holistic processing.…”

Can culture beat Covid-19? Evidence that exposure to facemasks with cultural symbols increases solidarity

“…However, facemasks vary by type (Goh et al, 2020;Van Gorp, 2021), and different facemasks evoke different associations (Tateo, 2020). Quantitative research on the interpersonal effects of facemasks has thus far focused on surgical (or medical) facemasks (Cartaud et al, 2020;Fitousi et al, 2021;Grundmann et al, 2021;Kastendieck et al, 2021;Klucarova, 2021;Parada-Fernández et al, 2022;Rosa et al, 2020;Wu, Liang, et al, 2021), a type of facemask traditionally used to stop bacteria transmission in medical settings (Goh et al, 2020). For example, in two papers, faces with a surgical facemask were rated as more trustworthy in comparison to faces with a neutral emotional expression, whether these faces were of virtual characters (Cartaud et al, 2020) or real-life individuals (Olivera-La .…”

“…With the continuous mutation of the virus, protective measures such as facemask wearing are potentially here to stay (British Academy, 2021). Accordingly, research and theory concerning the psychological effects of facemask exposure (Biermann et al, 2021;Cartaud et al, 2020;Fitousi et al, 2021;Grundmann et al, 2021;Kastendieck et al, 2021;Klucarova, 2021;Parada-Fernández et al, 2022;Rosa et al, 2020;Wu, Liang, et al, 2021) and the associations attached to facemasks in general (Cheng et al, 2020;Huang et al, 2021;Ji, 2020;Timpka & Nyce, 2021) and to specific types (e.g., surgical) of facemasks (Goh et al, 2020;Klucarova, 2021;Mokdad, 2021;Perach, 2020;Tateo, 2020) are emerging. In this paper, we propose that exposure to facemasks with a cultural symbol that relates to solidarity can activate cultural values such as mutual trust and thereby increase interpersonal perceptions compatible with these values (Neville et al, 2021;Vail et al, 2012).…”