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Moosavi J, Resch A, Lecchi A, Sokolov AN, Fallgatter AJ, Pavlova MA. Reading language of the eyes in female depression. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae253. [PMID: 38990517 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Revised: 05/31/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Aberrations in non-verbal social cognition have been reported to coincide with major depressive disorder. Yet little is known about the role of the eyes. To fill this gap, the present study explores whether and, if so, how reading language of the eyes is altered in depression. For this purpose, patients and person-by-person matched typically developing individuals were administered the Emotions in Masked Faces task and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, modified, both of which contained a comparable amount of visual information available. For achieving group homogeneity, we set a focus on females as major depressive disorder displays a gender-specific profile. The findings show that facial masks selectively affect inferring emotions: recognition of sadness and anger are more heavily compromised in major depressive disorder as compared with typically developing controls, whereas the recognition of fear, happiness, and neutral expressions remains unhindered. Disgust, the forgotten emotion of psychiatry, is the least recognizable emotion in both groups. On the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test patients exhibit lower accuracy on positive expressions than their typically developing peers, but do not differ on negative items. In both depressive and typically developing individuals, the ability to recognize emotions behind a mask and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test are linked to each other in processing speed, but not recognition accuracy. The outcome provides a blueprint for understanding the complexities of reading language of the eyes within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Moosavi
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Annika Resch
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alessandro Lecchi
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander N Sokolov
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas J Fallgatter
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Marina A Pavlova
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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Bani M, Russo S, Ardenghi S, Rampoldi G, Wickline V, Nowicki S, Strepparava MG. Behind the mask: What the eyes can't tell: Facial emotion recognition in a sample of Italian health care students. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:1430-1442. [PMID: 37599379 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231198145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Wearing a facemask remains a pivotal strategy to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection even after vaccination, but one of the possible costs of this protection is that it may interfere with the ability to read emotion in facial expressions. We explored the extent to which it may be more difficult for participants to read emotions in faces when faces are covered with masks than when they are not, and whether participants' empathy, attachment style, and patient-centred orientation would affect their performance. Medical and nursing students (N = 429) were administered either a masked or unmasked set of 24 adult faces depicting anger, sadness, fear, or happiness. Participants also completed self-report measures of empathy, patient-centredness, and attachment style. As predicted, participants made more errors to the masked than the unmasked faces with the exception of the identification of fear. Of note, when participants missed happiness, they were most likely to see it as sadness, and when they missed anger, they were most likely to see it as happiness. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that more errors identifying emotions in faces was associated with faces being masked as opposed to unmasked, lower scores on the empathy fantasy scale, and higher scores on the fearful attachment style. The findings suggest that wearing facemasks is associated with a variety of negative outcomes that might interfere with the building of positive relationships between health care workers and patients. Those who teach student health care workers would benefit from bringing this finding into their curriculum and training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Bani
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Selena Russo
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Stefano Ardenghi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza, Italy
| | - Giulia Rampoldi
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Virginia Wickline
- Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, Savannah, GA, USA
| | - Stephen Nowicki
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Maria Grazia Strepparava
- School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Monza, Italy
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Hysenaj A, Leclère M, Tahirbegolli B, Kuqi D, Isufi A, Prekazi L, Shemsedini N, Maljichi D, Meha R. Accuracy and Speed of Emotion Recognition With Face Masks. EUROPES JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 20:16-24. [PMID: 38487600 PMCID: PMC10936662 DOI: 10.5964/ejop.11789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
Wearing face masks is one of the important actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among people around the world. Nevertheless, social interaction is limited via masks, and this impacts the accuracy and speed of emotional perception. In the present study, we assess the impact of mask-wearing on the accuracy and speed of emotion recognition. Fifty people (female n = 39, male n = 11) aged 19-28 participated in the study (M = 21.1 years). We used frontal photos of a Kosova woman who belonged to the same participants' age group, with a grey background. Twelve different pictures were used that showed the emotional states of fear, joy, sadness, anger, neutrality, and disgust, in masked and unmasked conditions. The experiment was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Participants were faster for identifying emotions like joy (1.507 ms) and neutral (1.971 ms). The participants were more accurate (emotions identification) in unmasked faces (M = 85.7%) than in masked faces (M = 73.8%), F(1,98) = 20.73, MSE = 1027.66, p ≤ .001, partial η² = 0.17. Masks make confusion and reduce the accuracy and speediness of emotional detection. This may have a notable impact on social interactions among peoples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arben Hysenaj
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology, University of Bamberg, Germany
| | - Mariel Leclère
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Bernard Tahirbegolli
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
- National Sports Medicine Center, Prishtine, Kosovo
| | - Dorentina Kuqi
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Albane Isufi
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Lulejete Prekazi
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Nevzat Shemsedini
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
| | - Driton Maljichi
- Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, North Macedonia
| | - Rina Meha
- Faculty of Social and Psychological Sciences, Heimerer College, Prishtina, Kosovo
- Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
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Thomas PJN, Caharel S. Do masks cover more than just a face? A study on how facemasks affect the perception of emotional expressions according to their degree of intensity. Perception 2024; 53:3-16. [PMID: 37709269 DOI: 10.1177/03010066231201230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Emotional facial expressions convey crucial information in nonverbal communication and serve as a mediator in face-to-face relationships. Their recognition would rely on specific facial traits depending on the perceived emotion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a facemask has thus disrupted the human ability to read emotions from faces. Yet, these effects are usually assessed across studies from faces expressing stereotypical and exaggerated emotions, which is far removed from real-life conditions. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of facemasks through an emotion categorization task using morphs ranging from a neutral face and an expressive face (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness) (from 0% neutral to 100% expressive in 20% steps). Our results revealed a strong impact of facemasks on the recognition of expressions of disgust, happiness, and sadness, resulting in a decrease in performance and an increase in misinterpretations, both for low and high levels of intensity. In contrast, the recognition of anger and fear, as well as neutral expression, was found to be less impacted by mask-wearing. Future studies should address this issue from a more ecological point of view with the aim of taking concrete adaptive measures in the context of daily interactions.
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Huc M, Bush K, Atias G, Berrigan L, Cox S, Jaworska N. Recognition of masked and unmasked facial expressions in males and females and relations with mental wellness. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1217736. [PMID: 38023041 PMCID: PMC10643509 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1217736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background While the effects of mask wearing/facial occlusion are known to impair facial expression recognition, little is known about the role of mental wellness on facial expression recognition, as well as the influence of sex on misattribution errors (i.e., confusions between emotions). In this large study, we aimed to address the relation between facial expression recognition and loneliness, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms in male and female adults. Methods We assessed the influence of mask-wearing on facial expression recognition [i.e., accuracy and response time (RT)] via an online study in N = 469 adult males and females across Canada. Results Expectedly, recognition was impaired under masked conditions (i.e., lower accuracy, longer RTs, more misattribution errors). Females were faster and more accurate than males, with less misattribution errors. A novel finding was that people with higher perceived stress were less accurate at identifying masked fearful faces. Perceived stress influenced the relation between sex and RT to masked happy faces; males with high stress scores were slower to recognize masked happy faces, the opposite was true for females. Finally, this study was among the first to show that higher loneliness predicted shorter RT to unmasked faces. Impact Our results show that facial expression recognition is impaired by mask-wearing, and that sex and mental health features are important predictors of performance. Such insight could be detrimental in certain sectors of the population (e.g., health care or education), and inform policies being adopted in future pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Huc
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Katie Bush
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Gali Atias
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Lindsay Berrigan
- Department of Psychology, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - Sylvia Cox
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Dawson College, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Natalia Jaworska
- University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
- Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Pavlova MA, Moosavi J, Carbon CC, Fallgatter AJ, Sokolov AN. Emotions behind a mask: the value of disgust. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 9:58. [PMID: 37709796 PMCID: PMC10502067 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00388-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
The impact of face masks on social cognition and interaction became a popular topic due to the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic. This theme persists in the focus of attention beyond the pandemic, since face covering not only reduces the overall amount of face information available but also introduces biases and prejudices affecting social perception at large. Many questions are still open. One of them is whether gender of beholders affects inferring of emotions covered by face masks. Reading covered faces may be particularly challenging for individuals with mental disorders, most of which are gender-specific. Previous findings are not only sparse, but inconclusive because most research had been conducted online with resulting samples heavily dominated by females. Here in a face-to-face study, females and males were presented with a randomized set of faces covered by masks. In a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm, participants had to indicate facial emotions displayed by posers. In general, the outcome dovetails with earlier findings that face masks affect emotion recognition in a dissimilar way: Inferring some emotions suffers more severely than others, with the most pronounced influence of mask wearing on disgust and close to ceiling recognition of fear and neutral expressions. Contrary to our expectations, however, males were on overall more proficient in emotion recognition. In particular, males substantially excelled in inferring disgust. The findings help to understand gender differences in recognition of disgust, the forgotten emotion of psychiatry, that is of substantial value for a wide range of mental disorders including schizophrenia. Watch Prof. Marina Pavlova discussing this her work and this article: https://vimeo.com/860126397/5966610f49?share=copy .
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina A Pavlova
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Jonas Moosavi
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claus-Christian Carbon
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Andreas J Fallgatter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander N Sokolov
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Cho J, Im HY, Yoon YJ, Joo SJ, Chong SC. The effect of masks on the emotion perception of a facial crowd. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14274. [PMID: 37653061 PMCID: PMC10471755 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41366-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study investigated the effect of facial masks on people's ability to perceive emotions in crowds. We presented faces with the bottom halves occluded by masks or full faces without occlusion. In two sequentially presented crowds, we varied the number of faces, emotional valence, and intensity of facial expressions, examining the impact of masks on the perception of crowd emotion. Participants reported which of the two crowds they would avoid based on the crowds' average emotions. The participants' ability to judge the average emotion of a crowd, especially a crowd expressing happiness, was impaired when the crowd wore masks. For faces covered by masks, crowd emotion judgments were more negatively biased than those without masks. However, participants could still distinguish the emotional intensities of a crowd wearing masks above chance. Additionally, participants responded more quickly to a crowd with more people without compromising accuracy, despite the perceptual challenges imposed by facial masks. Our results suggest that under ambiguous social situations in which individuals' emotions are partially hidden by masks, a large group may provide stronger social cues than a small group, thereby promoting communication and regulating social behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieun Cho
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Hee Yeon Im
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Young Jun Yoon
- Department of Psychology, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Sung Jun Joo
- Department of Psychology, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Sang Chul Chong
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
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Harp NR, Langbehn AT, Larsen JT, Niedenthal PM, Neta M. Face coverings differentially alter valence judgments of emotional expressions. BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 45:91-106. [PMID: 37469671 PMCID: PMC10353716 DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2023.2221360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Face masks that prevent disease transmission obscure facial expressions, impairing nonverbal communication. We assessed the impact of lower (masks) and upper (sunglasses) face coverings on emotional valence judgments of clearly valenced (fearful, happy) and ambiguously valenced (surprised) expressions, the latter of which have both positive and negative meaning. Masks, but not sunglasses, impaired judgments of clearly valenced expressions compared to faces without coverings. Drift diffusion models revealed that lower, but not upper, face coverings slowed evidence accumulation and affected differences in non-judgment processes (i.e., stimulus encoding, response execution time) for all expressions. Our results confirm mask-interference effects in nonverbal communication. The findings have implications for nonverbal and intergroup communication, and we propose guidance for implementing strategies to overcome mask-related interference.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrew T. Langbehn
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Jeff T. Larsen
- Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | | | - Maital Neta
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
- Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
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Ikeda S. Social sensitivity predicts accurate emotion inference from facial expressions in a face mask: a study in Japan. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 43:1-10. [PMID: 36819755 PMCID: PMC9926429 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-023-04344-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Most prior research examining whether emotions can be accurately inferred from facial expressions with masks have been conducted with Western samples. Thus, there is a current lack of studies on this topic, as well as on factors affecting individual differences in the accuracy of emotion inference, among non-Western samples. This study examined the effects of social anxiety and social sensitivity on the accuracy of emotion inference from masked facial expressions in a Japanese sample. The results showed that wearing a mask made it difficult to identify the emotions of sadness and fear, happy and neutral expressions remained unaffected, and angry expressions were read more accurately. Further, while the findings show that a general higher ability to infer emotions from facial expressions may help ensure the accuracy of emotion inference from facial expressions with a mask, social sensitivity directly predicted the accuracy of emotion inference from facial expressions with a mask. These findings suggest that people who can infer complex mental states of others from subtle cues may be less susceptible to the effects of face masks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shinnosuke Ikeda
- Faculty of Humanities, Kyoto University of Advanced Science, Gotanda-chou, Yamanouchi, Ukyo-ku, 18, Kyoto, Japan
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Leitner MC, Meurer V, Hutzler F, Schuster S, Hawelka S. The effect of masks on the recognition of facial expressions: A true-to-life study on the perception of basic emotions. Front Psychol 2022; 13:933438. [PMID: 36619058 PMCID: PMC9815612 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.933438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Mouth-to-nose face masks became ubiquitous due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This ignited studies on the perception of emotions in masked faces. Most of these studies presented still images of an emotional face with a face mask digitally superimposed upon the nose-mouth region. A common finding of these studies is that smiles become less perceivable. The present study investigated the recognition of basic emotions in video sequences of faces. We replicated much of the evidence gathered from presenting still images with digitally superimposed masks. We also unearthed fundamental differences in comparison to existing studies with regard to the perception of smile which is less impeded than previous studies implied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Christian Leitner
- Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Salzburg, Austria,Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Verena Meurer
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Florian Hutzler
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Sarah Schuster
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Stefan Hawelka
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience (CCNS), University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria,*Correspondence: Stefan Hawelka, ✉
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Mauersberger H, Kastendieck T, Hess U. I looked at you, you looked at me, I smiled at you, you smiled at me—The impact of eye contact on emotional mimicry. Front Psychol 2022; 13:970954. [PMID: 36248540 PMCID: PMC9556997 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.970954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Eye contact is an essential element of human interaction and direct eye gaze has been shown to have effects on a range of attentional and cognitive processes. Specifically, direct eye contact evokes a positive affective reaction. As such, it has been proposed that obstructed eye contact reduces emotional mimicry (i.e., the imitation of our counterpart’s emotions). So far, emotional mimicry research has used averted-gaze faces or unnaturally covered eyes (with black censor bars) to analyze the effect of eye contact on emotional mimicry. However, averted gaze can also signal disinterest/ disengagement and censor bars obscure eye-adjacent areas as well and hence impede emotion recognition. In the present study (N = 44), we used a more ecological valid approach by showing photos of actors who expressed either happiness, sadness, anger, or disgust while either wearing mirroring sunglasses that obstruct eye contact or clear glasses. The glasses covered only the direct eye region but not the brows, nose ridge, and cheeks. Our results confirm that participants were equally accurate in recognizing the emotions of their counterparts in both conditions (sunglasses vs. glasses). Further, in line with our hypotheses, participants felt closer to the targets and mimicked affiliative emotions more intensely when their counterparts wore glasses instead of sunglasses. For antagonistic emotions, we found the opposite pattern: Disgust mimicry, which was interpreted as an affective reaction rather than genuine mimicry, could be only found in the sunglasses condition. It may be that obstructed eye contact increased the negative impression of disgusted facial expressions and hence the negative feelings disgust faces evoked. The present study provides further evidence for the notion that eye contact is an important prerequisite for emotional mimicry and hence for smooth and satisfying social interactions.
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Wermelinger S, Moersdorf L, Ammann S, Daum MM. Exploring the role of COVID-19 pandemic-related changes in social interactions on preschoolers' emotion labeling. Front Psychol 2022; 13:942535. [PMID: 36248559 PMCID: PMC9554629 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.942535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic people were increasingly obliged to wear facial masks and to reduce the number of people they met in person. In this study, we asked how these changes in social interactions are associated with young children's emotional development, specifically their emotion recognition via the labeling of emotions. Preschoolers labeled emotional facial expressions of adults (Adult Faces Task) and children (Child Faces Task) in fully visible faces. In addition, we assessed children's COVID-19-related experiences (i.e., time spent with people wearing masks, number of contacts without masks) and recorded children's gaze behavior during emotion labeling. We compared different samples of preschoolers (4.00–5.75 years): The data for the no-COVID-19-experience sample were taken from studies conducted before the pandemic (Adult Faces Task: N = 40; Child Faces Task: N = 30). The data for the with-COVID-19-experience sample (N = 99) were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland between June and November 2021. The results did not indicate differences in children's labeling behavior between the two samples except for fearful adult faces. Children with COVID-19-experience more often labeled fearful faces correctly compared to children with no COVID-19 experience. Furthermore, we found no relations between children's labeling behavior, their individual COVID-19-related experiences, and their gaze behavior. These results suggest that, even though the children had experienced differences in the amount and variability of facial input due to the pandemic, they still received enough input from visible faces to be able to recognize and label different emotions.
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13
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McCrackin SD, Ristic J. Emotional context can reduce the negative impact of face masks on inferring emotions. Front Psychol 2022; 13:928524. [PMID: 36211857 PMCID: PMC9537697 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
While face masks prevent the spread of disease, they occlude lower face parts and thus impair facial emotion recognition. Since emotions are often also contextually situated, it remains unknown whether providing a descriptive emotional context alongside the facial emotion may reduce some of the negative impact of facial occlusion on emotional communication. To address this question, here we examined how emotional inferences were affected by facial occlusion and the availability of emotional context. Participants were presented with happy or sad emotional faces who were either fully visible or partially obstructed by an opaque surgical mask. The faces were shown either within an emotionally congruent (e.g., "Her cat was found/lost yesterday afternoon") or neutral ("Get ready to see the next person") context. Participants were asked to infer the emotional states of the protagonists by rating their emotional intensity and valence. Facial occlusion by masks impacted the ratings, such that protagonists were judged to feel less intense and more neutral emotions when they wore masks relative to when their face was fully visible. Importantly, this negative impact of visual occlusion by mask was reduced but not fully eliminated when the faces were presented within a congruent emotional context. Thus, visual occlusion of facial emotions impairs understanding of emotions, with this negative effect of face masks partially mitigated by the availability of a larger emotional context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jelena Ristic
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Thomas L, von Castell C, Hecht H. How facial masks alter the interaction of gaze direction, head orientation, and emotion recognition. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:937939. [PMID: 36213742 PMCID: PMC9533556 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.937939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way we interact with each other: mandatory mask-wearing obscures facial information that is crucial for emotion recognition. Whereas the influence of wearing a mask on emotion recognition has been repeatedly investigated, little is known about the impact on interaction effects among emotional signals and other social signals. Therefore, the current study sought to explore how gaze direction, head orientation, and emotional expression interact with respect to emotion perception, and how these interactions are altered by wearing a face mask. In two online experiments, we presented face stimuli from the Radboud Faces Database displaying different facial expressions (anger, fear, happiness, neutral, and sadness), gaze directions (−13°, 0°, and 13°), and head orientations (−45°, 0°, and 45°) – either without (Experiment 1) or with mask (Experiment 2). Participants categorized the displayed emotional expressions. Not surprisingly, masks impaired emotion recognition. Surprisingly, without the mask, emotion recognition was unaffected by averted head orientations and only slightly affected by gaze direction. The mask strongly interfered with this ability. The mask increased the influence of head orientation and gaze direction, in particular for the emotions that were poorly recognized with mask. The results suggest that in case of uncertainty due to ambiguity or absence of signals, we seem to unconsciously factor in extraneous information.
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Verroca A, de Rienzo CM, Gambarota F, Sessa P. Mapping the perception-space of facial expressions in the era of face masks. Front Psychol 2022; 13:956832. [PMID: 36176786 PMCID: PMC9514388 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.956832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
With the advent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-Corona Virus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the theme of emotion recognition from facial expressions has become highly relevant due to the widespread use of face masks as one of the main devices imposed to counter the spread of the virus. Unsurprisingly, several studies published in the last 2 years have shown that accuracy in the recognition of basic emotions expressed by faces wearing masks is reduced. However, less is known about the impact that wearing face masks has on the ability to recognize emotions from subtle expressions. Furthermore, even less is known regarding the role of interindividual differences (such as alexithymic and autistic traits) in emotion processing. This study investigated the perception of all the six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise), both as a function of the face mask and as a function of the facial expressions’ intensity (full vs. subtle) in terms of participants’ uncertainty in their responses, misattribution errors, and perceived intensity. The experiment was conducted online on a large sample of participants (N = 129). Participants completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Autistic Spectrum Quotient and then performed an emotion-recognition task that involved face stimuli wearing a mask or not, and displaying full or subtle expressions. Each face stimulus was presented alongside the Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW), and participants had to indicate what emotion they believed the other person was feeling and its intensity using the GEW. For each combination of our variables, we computed the indices of ‘uncertainty’ (i.e., the spread of responses around the correct emotion category), ‘bias’ (i.e., the systematic errors in recognition), and ‘perceived intensity’ (i.e., the distance from the center of the GEW). We found that face masks increase uncertainty for all facial expressions of emotion, except for fear when intense, and that disgust was systematically confused with anger (i.e., response bias). Furthermore, when faces were covered by the mask, all the emotions were perceived as less intense, and this was particularly evident for subtle expressions. Finally, we did not find any evidence of a relationship between these indices and alexithymic/autistic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Verroca
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | | | - Filippo Gambarota
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- *Correspondence: Paola Sessa,
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Kim M, Cho Y, Kim SY. Effects of diagnostic regions on facial emotion recognition: The moving window technique. Front Psychol 2022; 13:966623. [PMID: 36186300 PMCID: PMC9518794 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
With regard to facial emotion recognition, previous studies found that specific facial regions were attended more in order to identify certain emotions. We investigated whether a preferential search for emotion-specific diagnostic regions could contribute toward the accurate recognition of facial emotions. Twenty-three neurotypical adults performed an emotion recognition task using six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. The participants’ exploration patterns for the faces were measured using the Moving Window Technique (MWT). This technique presented a small window on a blurred face, and the participants explored the face stimuli through a mouse-controlled window in order to recognize the emotions on the face. Our results revealed that when the participants explored the diagnostic regions for each emotion more frequently, the correct recognition of the emotions occurred at a faster rate. To the best of our knowledge, this current study is the first to present evidence that an exploration of emotion-specific diagnostic regions can predict the reaction time of accurate emotion recognition among neurotypical adults. Such findings can be further applied in the evaluation and/or training (regarding emotion recognition functions) of both typically and atypically developing children with emotion recognition difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minhee Kim
- Department of Psychology, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Youngwug Cho
- Department of Computer Science, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - So-Yeon Kim
- Department of Psychology, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea
- *Correspondence: So-Yeon Kim,
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Viola M. Seeing through the shades of situated affectivity. Sunglasses as a socio-affective artifact. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2118574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marco Viola
- Department of Philosophy, Communication, and Performing Arts, Rome 3 University, Rome, Italy
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Ross P, George E. Are Face Masks a Problem for Emotion Recognition? Not When the Whole Body Is Visible. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:915927. [PMID: 35924222 PMCID: PMC9339646 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.915927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The rise of the novel COVID-19 virus has made face masks commonplace items around the globe. Recent research found that face masks significantly impair emotion recognition on isolated faces. However, faces are rarely seen in isolation and the body is also a key cue for emotional portrayal. Here, therefore, we investigated the impact of face masks on emotion recognition when surveying the full body. Stimuli expressing anger, happiness, sadness, and fear were selected from the BEAST stimuli set. Masks were added to these images and participants were asked to recognize the emotion and give a confidence level for that decision for both the masked and unmasked stimuli. We found that, contrary to some work viewing faces in isolation, emotion recognition was generally not impaired by face masks when the whole body is present. We did, however, find that when viewing masked faces, only the recognition of happiness significantly decreased when the whole body was present. In contrast to actual performance, confidence levels were found to decline during the Mask condition across all emotional conditions. This research suggests that the impact of masks on emotion recognition may not be as pronounced as previously thought, as long as the whole body is also visible.
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Communication from the Zoo: Reports from Zoological Facilities of the Impact of COVID-19 Closures on Animals. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/jzbg3020022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Zoos engaged in a range of communication types with prospective visitors during the temporary closures necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to (1) investigate social media reports and public responses to zoo-animal-related posts over a one-year period during COVID-19 lockdowns; (2) understand the use of reporting language in news articles concerning animal responses during zoo closures, and to investigate whether this differed across species; and (3) investigate how keepers perceived general animal behavior, and how they perceived animal behavior in keeper–animal interactions, during the COVID-19 facility closures. Data were collected from BIAZA-accredited zoos’ Facebook pages (March 2020 to March 2021) and news reports (Google search outputs from 20 March to 5 April 2021). Keeper perceptions were captured via questionnaires (May to August 2021). Data were collected on taxa, the reported behavioral changes and the language used in media communications. In Facebook posts and news reports, mammals were more frequently represented than was expected (p < 0.05). Behavioral responses were more frequently negative (p < 0.05) and less frequently positive or neutral (p < 0.05). Keepers reported overall behavioral changes, as well as changes during their own interactions with animals. On Facebook, mammals were described using a combination of behavioral descriptions and anthropomorphic terms, which were used more frequently than was expected (p < 0.05). In the news reports concerning primate species, anthropomorphic descriptions were used more frequently than expected (p < 0.05), while behavioral descriptions were used less frequently than expected (p < 0.05). The reports regarding the Carnivora were the reverse of this. This study enabled an understanding of the impact of the temporary closures on the animals, and how this impact was communicated to the public. The findings may reflect the relationships that humans have with animals and the need for communication methods that will capture visitors’ interest and induce empathy with the various species.
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Miyazaki Y, Kamatani M, Suda T, Wakasugi K, Matsunaga K, Kawahara JI. Effects of wearing a transparent face mask on perception of facial expressions. Iperception 2022; 13:20416695221105910. [PMID: 35782828 PMCID: PMC9243485 DOI: 10.1177/20416695221105910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 05/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Wearing face masks in public has become the norm in many countries post-2020. Although mask-wearing is effective in controlling infection, it has the negative side effect of occluding the mask wearer’s facial expressions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wearing transparent masks on the perception of facial expressions. Participants were required to categorize the perceived facial emotion of female (Experiment 1) and male (Experiment 2) faces with different facial expressions and to rate the perceived emotion intensity of the faces. Based on the group, the participants were assigned to, the faces were presented with a surgical mask, a transparent mask, or without a mask. The results showed that wearing a surgical mask impaired the performance of reading facial expressions, both with respect to recognition and perceived intensity of facial emotions. Specifically, the impairments were robustly observed in fear and happy faces for emotion recognition, and in happy faces for perceived intensity of emotion in Experiments 1 and 2. However, the impairments were moderated by wearing a transparent mask instead of a surgical mask. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the transparent mask can be used in a range of situations where face-to-face communication is important.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuki Miyazaki
- Department of Psychology, Fukuyama University, Fukuyama, Japan
| | - Miki Kamatani
- Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Tomokazu Suda
- Global Research & Development Division, Unicharm Corporation, Kanonji, Japan
| | - Kei Wakasugi
- Global Research & Development Division, Unicharm Corporation, Kanonji, Japan
| | - Kaori Matsunaga
- Global Research & Development Division, Unicharm Corporation, Kanonji, Japan
| | - Jun I. Kawahara
- Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
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