Wearing the face mask affects our social attention over space

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that covering the face inhibits the recognition of identity and emotional expressions. However, it might also make the eyes more salient, since they are a reliable index to orient our social and spatial attention. This study investigates (1) whether the pervasive interaction with people with face masks fostered by the COVID-19 pandemic modulates the processing of spatial information essential to shift attention according to other’s eye-gaze direction (i.e., gaze-cueing effect: GCE), and (2) whether this potential modulation interacts with motor responses (i.e., Simon effect). Participants were presented with face cues orienting their gaze to a congruent or incongruent target letter location (gaze-cueing paradigm) while wearing a surgical mask (Mask), a patch (Control), or nothing (No-Mask). The task required to discriminate the identity of the lateralized target letters by pressing one of two lateralized response keys, in a corresponding or a non-corresponding position with respect to the target. Results showed that GCE was not modulated by the presence of the Mask, but it occurred in the No-Mask condition, confirming previous studies. Crucially, the GCE interacted with Simon effect in the Mask and Control conditions, though in different ways. While in the Mask condition the GCE emerged only when target and response positions corresponded (i.e., Simon-corresponding trials), in the Control condition it emerged only when they did not correspond (i.e., Simon-non-corresponding trials). These results indicate that people with face masks induce us to jointly orient our visual attention in the direction of the seen gaze (GCE) in those conditions resembling (or associated with) a general approaching behavior (Simon-corresponding trials). This is likely promoted by the fact that we tend to perceive wearing the mask as a personal safety measure and, thus, someone wearing the face mask is perceived as a trustworthy person. In contrast, people with a patch on their face can be perceived as more threatening, therefore inducing a GCE in those conditions associated with a general avoidance behavior (Simon-non-corresponding trials).

Does a look of fear prompt to act? The effects of gaze and face emotional expression on manipulable objects

“…It is worth noting that, unlike previous studies showing independent coding of gaze direction and stimulus spatial location (e.g., Zorzi et al, 2003;Ricciardelli et al, 2007;Villani et al, 2021), we did not find additive effects of gaze direction and H-R compatibility, neither for RTs nor for error rates. Therefore, it seems that the stimulus spatial feature (i.e., the orientation of the object's handle) does not behave as the stimulus spatial location, hence, undermining the location coding account's assumption that the H-R compatibility effect is a kind of S-R compatibility effect (e.g., a Simon effect: Cho and Proctor, 2010).…”

“…If the two codes are independent, responses should be faster when the direction of the gaze is consistent with the spatial location of the response key and when the direction of the target's handle is consistent with the spatial location of the response key. This result would be in line with previous findings, showing independent coding of gaze direction and stimulus spatial location (e.g., Zorzi et al, 2003;Ricciardelli et al, 2007;Villani et al, 2021), and would speak in favor of the location coding account (e.g., Cho and Proctor, 2010) since it would assimilate the H-R compatibility effect to other spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effects, such as the Simon effect (Simon, 1990).…”

“…The study was conducted online (also refer to Dalmaso et al, 2020;Villani et al, 2021 for gaze-cueing studies conducted remotely). We used the Gorilla Experiment Builder (www.gorilla.sc) to create and host our experiment (Anwyl-Irvine et al, 2020; for a critical overview, refer to Scerrati et al, 2021).…”

Effect of mask coverage on face identification in Taiwanese men and women

“…Recent studies suggested that covering the face inhibited the recognition of identity and emotional expressions. However, it may also make the eyes more prominent, since they are a reliable index to orient people’s social and spatial attention ( Villani et al, 2022 ). In addition, a questionnaire with a forced 4-choice-1-question format was used in this study, and the participants tended to choose the closest answer.…”

Face mask use as a categorical dimension in social perception

“…Most importantly, it is here shown that spontaneous categorization processes are triggered, grouping individuals as a function of their mask-related behaviors. The implementation of preventive behaviors has become an integral part of people's daily lives, and much has already been done to highlight the possible effects on socio-cognitive processes 9,[52][53][54][55][56][57] . Although there is a widespread hope that we could soon overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, there is still uncertainty about the future.…”