During the COVID-19 pandemic participants prefer settings with a face mask, no interaction and at a closer distance

How different face mask types affect interpersonal distance perception and threat feeling in social interaction

Due to the easing of the pandemic, public policies no longer mandated people to wear masks. People can choose to no wear or wear different types of masks based on personal preferences and safety perceptions during daily interaction. Available information about the influence of face mask type on interpersonal distance (IPD) by different aging populations is still lacking. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the face mask type (no wear, cloth, medical and N95 mask) and age group effect of avatars (children, adults and older adults) on IPD perception, threat feeling and physiological skin conductance response under active and passive approaching. One hundred participants with a range from 20 to 35 years old were recruited for this study. Twelve avatars (three age groups*four face mask conditions) were created and applied in a virtual reality environment. The results showed that age group, mask type and approach mode had significant effects on IPD and subjective threat feeling. A non-significant effect was found on skin conductance responses. Participants maintained a significantly longer IPD when facing the older adults, followed by adults and then children. In the passive approach condition, people tended to maintain a significantly greater comfort distance than during the active approach. For the mask type effect, people kept a significantly largest and shortest IPD when facing an avatar with no mask or the N95 mask, respectively. A non-significant IPD difference was found between the N95 and medical mask. Additionally, based on the subjective threat feeling, facing an avatar wearing a medical mask generated the lowest threat feeling compared to the others. The findings of this study indicated that wearing medical masks provided a benefit in bringing people closer for interaction during specific situations. Understanding that mask-wearing, especially medical one, brought to shortest IPD when compared to the unmasked condition can be utilized to enhance safety measures in crowded public spaces and health-care settings. This information could guide the development of physical distancing recommendations, taking into account both the type of mask and the age groups involved, to ensure the maintenance of appropriate distances.

A quantitative study on peripersonal space in anorexia nervosa and healthy subjects: Role of social variables and association with psychopathology

Objectives

This study investigates peripersonal space (PPS) modulation in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) versus healthy controls (HCs) and explores associations between PPS, eating-related, and general psychopathology.

Method

Forty-six patients and 42 HCs completed a computer-based task observing videos of an approaching actor (male or female) displaying different facial expressions along with a non-social condition. Then, participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing eating-related and general psychopathology.

Results

Mixed-models revealed that both groups adjusted PPS based on task conditions, with a gender effect favoring closer proximity to female actor. HCs reduced PPS amplitude progressively during the task, while patients did not show this effect. In patients, wider PPS correlated with lower self-esteem and facial expression identification accuracy, while in HCs, PPS was associated to body dissatisfaction and anxiety symptoms.

Conclusion

These findings enhance understanding of bodily self-consciousness, suggesting PPS consideration in therapeutic interactions with patients with AN and as a potential target in treatments addressing social impairment.

The social factors behind the mask: contextual effects on trait impressions from faces wearing a face mask

The presence of face masks can significantly impact processes related to trait impressions from faces. In the present research, we focused on trait impressions from faces either wearing a mask or not by addressing how contextual factors may shape such inferences. In Study 1, we compared trait impressions from faces in a phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in which wearing masks was a normative behavior (T1) with those assessed one year later when wearing masks was far less common (T2). Results at T2 showed a reduced positivity in the trait impressions elicited by faces covered by a mask. In Study 2, it was found that trait impressions from faces were modulated by the background visual context in which the target face was embedded so that faces wearing a mask elicited more positive traits when superimposed on an indoor rather than outdoor visual context. Overall, the present studies indicate that wearing face masks may affect trait impressions from faces, but also that such impressions are highly flexible and can significantly fluctuate across time and space.

Perception of interpersonal distance and social distancing before and during COVID-19 pandemic

Since COVID-19 is easily transmitted among people in close physical proximity, the focus of epidemiological policy during the COVID-19 crisis included major restrictions on interpersonal distance. However, the way in which distance restrictions affected spatial perception is unclear. In the current study, we examined interpersonal distance preferences and perceptions at three time points: pre-pandemic, early post-pandemic, and late post-pandemic. The results indicate that following the pandemic outbreak, people perceived others as farther away than they actually were, suggesting that the distance restrictions were associated with an enlargement of perceived interpersonal distance. Interestingly, however, people maintained the same distance from one another as before the outbreak, indicating no change in actual distance behavior due to the risk of infection. These findings suggest that COVID-19 was associated with a change in the way distance is perceived, while in practice, people maintain the same distance as before. In contrast, COVID-related anxiety predicted both a preference for maintaining a greater distance and a bias toward underestimating perceived distance from others. Thus, individuals who were highly fearful of COVID-19 perceived other people to be closer than they actually were and preferred to maintain a larger distance from them. The results suggest that subjective risk can lead to an increased perception of danger and a subsequent change in behavior. Taken together, even when behaviors should logically change, the decision-making process can be based on distorted perceptions. This insight may be used to predict public compliance.

The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in social behavior: Protective face masks reduce deliberate social distancing preferences while leaving automatic avoidance behavior unaffected

Protective face masks were one of the central measures to counteract viral transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research indicates that face masks impact various aspects of social cognition, such as emotion recognition and social evaluation. Whether protective masks also influence social avoidance behavior is less clear. Our project assessed direct and indirect measures of social avoidance tendencies towards masked and unmasked faces in two experiments with 311 participants during the first half of 2021. Two interventions were used in half of the participants from each sample (Experiment 1: protective face masks; Experiment 2: a disease prime video) to decrease or increase the salience of the immediate contagion threat. In the direct social avoidance measure, which asked for the deliberate decision to approach or avoid a person in a hypothetical social encounter, participants showed an increased willingness to approach masked as opposed to unmasked faces across experiments. This effect was further related to interindividual differences in pandemic threat perception in both samples. In the indirect measure, which assessed automatic social approach and avoidance tendencies, we neither observed an approach advantage towards masked faces nor an avoidance advantage for unmasked faces. Thus, while the absence of protective face masks may have led to increased deliberate social avoidance during the pandemic, no such effect was observed on automatic regulation of behavior, thus indicating the relative robustness of this latter behavior against changes in superordinate social norms.

Exercise as the sum of our choices between behavioral alternatives: The Decisional Preferences in Exercising (DPEX) test

Exercising can be theorized as the result of choosing one behavior over alternative behaviors. The Decisional Preferences in Exercising (DPEX) test is a computerized, easy-to-use, publicly available (open source Python code: https://osf.io/ahbjr/) and highly adaptive research tool based on this rationale. In the DPEX, participants are asked to choose between two images by pressing a key on the computer keyboard, one showing a physical exercise and the other showing a non-exercise behavioral alternative in a series of trials. Combinations are randomly assembled from two definable pools of stimuli trial-per-trial. The test can be scored either based on a crossed random effects model (facilitating the use of different stimulus material in different studies without compromising the comparability of test scores) or with a simple proportion score. Data from diverse study samples (N = 451) showed strong correlations of DPEX scores with past and future exercise behavior (r = 0.42 and 0.47 respectively) as well as with affective experiences with exercise (e.g., 'pleasure-displeasure': r = 0.47). DPEX test scores discriminated between exercisers and non-exercisers according to receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. The DPEX may be used to examine research questions derived from dual process theories, the effects of psychological states on behavioral choices can be tested, or the effects of behavior change interventions can be evaluated. The DPEX helps to avoid common method bias in the assessment of exercise behavior, for example, when psychological variables are measured with questionnaires.

Perceived Interpersonal Distances: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Young Taiwanese and Young Southeast Asians during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Prior research on interpersonal distance (IPD) has predominantly concentrated on specific nationalities or population groups within their respective regions. There is a dearth of studies investigating IPD differences among individuals of distinct nationalities coexisting in the same geographical location. This study aimed to examine the variances in IPD between 100 young Taiwanese participants (comprising 50 males and 50 females) and 100 Southeast Asian individuals (including 50 males and 50 females). This study also considered factors affecting IPD, including target genders and mask-wearing conditions. The results of the four-way ANOVA indicate that target gender and mask-wearing conditions had a significant impact on IPD (p < 0.001). While there were no significant main effects for region and participant gender, there was a noteworthy interactive effect between these two variables on IPD. In general, Southeast Asian participants exhibited lower sensitivity to changes in IPD in response to the independent variables in comparison to their Taiwanese counterparts; in certain instances, their IPD did not notably increase when confronted with targets not wearing masks. While prior research typically indicated that women tend to maintain larger IPD than men, the current study observed this gender difference only among young Taiwanese participants. However, such a gender gap was absent among young individuals from Southeast Asia.

Social emotional processes during the third wave of COVID-19: Results from a close replication study in a Turkish sample

Until recently, for almost 3 years, we used face masks to protect against COVID-19. Face masks disrupted our perception of socially relevant information, and impacted our social judgements as a result of the new social norms around wearing masks imposed by the pandemic. To shed light on such pandemic-induced changes in social emotional processes, Calbi et al. analysed data from an Italian sample collected in Spring 2020. They assessed valence, social distance and physical distance ratings for neutral, happy and angry male and female faces covered with a scarf or a mask. A year later, we used the same stimuli to investigate the same measures in a Turkish sample. We found that females attributed more negative valence ratings than males to angry faces, and that angry and neutral faces of females were rated more negatively than those of males. Scarf stimuli were evaluated more negatively in terms of valence. Participants attributed greater distance to more negative faces (angry > neutral > happy) and to scarf than the mask stimuli. Also, females attributed greater social and physical distance than males. These results may be explained by gender-stereotypic socialisation processes, and changes in people's perception of health behaviours during the pandemic.

Effects of Target Variables on Interpersonal Distance Perception for Young Taiwanese during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected not only public health but also people's daily lives. Among various strategies to prevent infection, mask wearing and vaccination are considered to be the most effective methods; however, they may affect the comfortable interpersonal distance (IPD) for social interactions. In 2023, although the COVID-19 epidemic is considered to be similar to influenza, the public health sector of Taiwan still plans to give each person at least one dose per year, and even two does for special cases such as the elderly; and more than 90% of Taiwanese are still accustomed to wearing masks in public areas. Compared with mask wearing, studies examining the effects of vaccination on IPD are lacking. Therefore, an online survey was conducted in this study to collect the IPD data of 50 male and 50 female participants to elucidate the effects of mask wearing, vaccination, and target sex variables on IPD. The results showed that all variables significantly affected IPD (all p < 0.001). The effect of masks on IPD (49.1 cm) was slightly greater than that of vaccination (43.5 cm). The IPDs reported for wearing and not wearing masks were 145.7 and 194.8 cm, respectively, and those for vaccinated and unvaccinated were 148.5 and 192.0 cm, respectively. Regardless of participant sex, the IPDs for the female targets were significantly shorter than those for the male targets, which was consistent with the results of previous studies. Although mask wearing and vaccination are functionally different in nature, the findings indicate that the effects of both on IPD are nearly identical, jointly shortening IPD to approximately 93 cm. This implies that not only masks but also vaccination could lead to the shortening of IPD and may cause challenges in the prevention and control of COVID-19 transmission.

Refraining from interaction can decrease fear of physical closeness during COVID-19

Perception of peripersonal space (PPS) and interpersonal distance (IPD) has been shown to be modified by external factors such as perceived danger, the use of tools, and social factors. Especially in times of social distancing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to study factors that modify PPS and IPD. The present work addresses the question of whether wearing a face mask as a protection tool and social interaction impact the perception of IPD. We tested estimated IPD in pictures at three distances: 50 cm, 90 cm, and 150 cm in both social interaction (shaking hands) and without interaction and when the two people in the pictures wore a face mask or not. Data from 60 subjects were analyzed in a linear mixed model (on both difference in distance estimation to the depicted distance and in absolute distance estimation) and in a 3 (distance: 50, 90, 150) × 2 (interaction: no interaction, shake hands), × 2 face mask (no mask, mask) rmANOVA on distance estimation difference. All analyses showed that at a distance of 50 and 90 cm, participants generally underestimated the IPD while at an IPD of 150 cm, participants overestimated the distance. This could be grounded in perceived danger and avoidance behavior at closer distances, while the wider distance between persons was not perceived as dangerous. Our findings at an IPD of 90 cm show that social interaction has the largest effect at the border of our PPS, while the face mask did not affect social interaction at either distance. In addition, the ANOVA results indicate that when no social interaction was displayed, participants felt less unsafe when depicted persons wore a face mask at distances of 90 and 150 cm. This shows that participants are on the one hand aware of the given safety measures and internalized them; on the other hand, that refraining from physical social interaction helps to get close to other persons.

Impact of face masks and sunglasses on attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity, and limited time effect: a Japanese sample

Many studies conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic have examined the relationship between changes in social traits, such as attractiveness and wearing face masks. However, most studies examine the effect of wearing face masks at a single time point, and the time effect is not known. Additionally, few studies address wearing sunglasses, another facial occluding item. This study examined the effects of facial occluding (unoccluded face, face masks, sunglasses, or both) on perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity at two time points, September 2020, six months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and April 2022, almost two years later, using Japanese higher and lower attractive faces. Results showed that only lower attractive faces wearing face masks had a time effect on attractiveness and familiarity and no time effect on social traits in higher attractive faces. Perceived all social traits were the highest for unoccluded faces, and faces wearing face masks had the same level of attractiveness and familiarity as unoccluded faces. Perceived trustworthiness was higher for unoccluded faces, faces wearing face masks, sunglasses, and both sunglasses and face masks, respectively. Additionally, faces wearing both sunglasses and face masks had the lowest perceived all social traits. These findings suggest that the positive and time effects of wearing face masks are limited in Japan, suggesting a greater positive impact of unoccluded faces. They also suggest that the negative impact of wearing sunglasses is significant.