The Attractiveness of Masked Faces Is Influenced by Race and Mask Attitudes

Unveiling why race does not affect the mask effect on attractiveness: but gender and expression do

Studies show that surgical face masks can have both positive and negative effects on attractiveness. Race has been implicated as a moderator of the size of this mask effect. Here, the moderating effects of expression, race and gender are explored. The mask effect was more positive for males than for females, for neutral faces than for smiling faces, and there were differences between the races. Further, the effect of unmasked attractiveness was partialled out for each image, which removed the race effects, but the gender and expression effects remained. It is suggested that racial differences previously observed in the mask effects are a consequence of differences in attractiveness of the faces sampled from those races. Re-analysis of previous research that showed race effects also demonstrates how they are better explained as attractiveness effects rather than race effects. This explanation can provide order to the different findings observed across the literature.

Facial morphometric differences across face databases: influence of ethnicities and sex

The scientific need for standardized, high-quality facial stimuli has driven the creation of several face image databases in recent years. These stimuli are particularly important in facial asymmetry research. However, previous studies have reported facial anthropometric differences across a variety of ethnicities. This highlights the need to investigate whether these differences can also impact the use of face image databases, particularly in facial asymmetry research. In this study, we investigated facial asymmetry-based morphometric differences between the multi-ethnic Chicago Face Database (CFD) and the LACOP Face Database, which is composed of Brazilian subjects. We found reliable differences in facial asymmetry between the two databases, which were related to ethnic groups. Specifically, differences in eye and mouth asymmetry seem to drive these differences. The asymmetry-based morphometric differences among databases and ethnicities found in this study reinforce the necessity of creating multi-ethnic face databases.

Does wearing facial masks increase perceived facial attractiveness? An eye-tracking experiment

As wearing a mask has become a routine of daily life since COVID-19, there is a growing need for psycho-physiological research to examine whether and how mask-fishing effects can occur and operate. Building upon a notion that people are likely to utilize information available from the facial areas uncovered by a mask to form the first impression about others, we posit a curvilinear relationship between the amount of the facial areas covered by a mask and the perception of others' attractiveness such that the attractiveness perception increases initially and then decreases as more facial areas are covered by a mask. To better examine this covering effect, we conduct an experiment using an eye-tracker and also administer a follow-up survey on the facial attractiveness of target persons. Our results showed that the facial attractiveness of target persons increased as the areas covered by a mask increased as in the moderate covering condition where the target persons wore only a facial mask, demonstrating that the mask-fishing was indeed possible thanks to the covering effect of a mask on the facial attractiveness. The experimental results, however, revealed that the mask-fishing effect disappeared as the areas covered increased further as in the excessive covering condition where the target persons' face and forehead were covered with a mask and a bucket hat. More importantly, the eye-tracking data analysis demonstrated that both the number of gaze fixation and revisits per unit area were significantly lower in the moderate covering than in the excessive covering condition, suggesting that participants in the moderate covering were able to form the impression about the target persons using cues available from the eyes and forehead areas such as hairstyle and eye color whereas those in the excessive covering were provided only a limited set of cues concentrated in the eyes area. As a result, the covering effect no longer existed under the excessive covering. Furthermore, our results showed that participants in the moderate covering were more likely than those in the excessive condition to exhibit the higher level of curiosity and perception of beautifulness but perceived the lower level of coldness when evaluating the target persons. The current research offers theoretical contributions and practical implications made from the eye-tracking experiment and discusses possible avenues for further research.

Empathising with masked targets: limited side effects of face masks on empathy for dynamic, context-rich stimuli

Multiple studies revealed detrimental effects of face masks on communication, including reduced empathic accuracy and enhanced listening effort. Yet, extant research relied on artificial, decontextualised stimuli, which prevented assessing empathy under more ecologically valid conditions. In this preregistered online experiment (N = 272), we used film clips featuring targets reporting autobiographical events to address motivational mechanisms underlying face mask effects on cognitive (empathic accuracy) and emotional facets (emotional congruence, sympathy) of empathy. Surprisingly, targets whose faces were covered by a mask (or a black bar) elicited the same level of empathy motives (affiliation, cognitive effort), and accordingly, the same level of cognitive and emotional empathy compared to targets with uncovered faces. We only found a negative direct effect of face coverings on sympathy. Additional analyses revealed that older (compared to young) adults showed higher empathy, but age did not moderate face mask effects. Our findings speak against strong negative face mask effects on empathy when using dynamic, context-rich stimuli, yet support motivational mechanisms of empathy.

Occlusion of faces by sanitary masks improves facial attractiveness of other races

Recent studies provide mixed results regarding whether the perception of facial attractiveness is increased or decreased by partial occlusion with a sanitary mask. One set of studies demonstrated that occluding the bottom half of a face increased facial attractiveness. This effect is thought to occur because the occluded area is interpolated by an average facial representation that is perceived as attractive. However, several groups of studies showed that partial occlusion can increase or decrease perceived attractiveness depending on the attractiveness of the original (unoccluded) face, due to regression to the mean. To reconcile this inconsistency, we propose that the occluded area is interpolated not by an average facial representation, but by a template of moderate attractiveness, shaped by the distribution of each viewer's experience. This hypothesis predicts an interaction between occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face so that occluded attractive faces are rated as less attractive, while occluded unattractive faces are rated as more attractive. To examine this hypothesis, the present study used attractiveness-rating tasks with mask-free versus masked faces in own-race and other-races categories. Viewers were familiar with own-race faces and unfamiliar with other-races faces. If moderate-attractiveness interpolation were the explanatory factor, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original face should be found only in the rating of own-race faces. Consistent with this hypothesis, the interaction between the occlusion and the attractiveness of the original faces was significant only for the own-race faces. Specifically, wearing a sanitary mask decreased the facial attractiveness of attractive faces in the own-race, while it increased the attractiveness regardless of the level of facial attractiveness in other-races. These findings suggest that the occluded area of own-race faces is interpolated by a facial template of moderate attractiveness. The other-races template could be developed using familiar exemplars such as celebrities. Thus, interpolation by such a template should result in elevated attractiveness relative to that by an own-race template. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistency in the literature regarding the effect of partial occlusion on physical attractiveness can be explained in terms of differences in the template involving interpolation of the occluded area.

The adaptive significance of human scleral brightness: an experimental study

Homogeneously depigmented sclerae have long been proposed to be uniquely human-an adaptation to enable cooperative behaviour by facilitating interpersonal coordination through gaze following. However, recent evidence has shown that deeply pigmented sclerae also afford gaze following if surrounding a bright iris. Furthermore, while current scleral depigmentation is clearly adaptive in modern humans, it is less clear how the evolutionarily intermediate stages of scleral pigmentation may have been adaptive. In sum, it is unclear why scleral depigmentation became the norm in humans, while not so in sister species like chimpanzees, or why some extant species display intermediate degrees of pigmentation (as our ancestors presumably did at some point). We created realistic facial images of 20 individually distinct hominins with diverse facial morphologies, each face in the (i) humanlike bright sclera and (ii) generalised apelike dark sclera version. Participants in two online studies rated the bright-sclera hominins as younger, healthier, more attractive and trustworthy, but less aggressive than the dark-sclera hominins. Our results support the idea that the appearance of more depigmented sclerae promoted perceived traits that fostered trust, increasing fitness for those individuals and resulting in depigmentation as a fixed trait in extant humans.