35th Annual Student Research Conference
Face Masks Effects On Emotion Recognition Via Facial Expressions
Megan E. Grossman* and Emma G. Wituk
Dr. Karen Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
Face masks are one of the most effective ways to prevent the transmission of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19). It is understood that face masks have medical benefits, little is known about their effects on emotional recognition. We tested how different types of face masks influence participants' ability to recognize emotions. Participants (Anticipate N=50) evaluated the emotional expressions exhibited in 84 photos. Each face was randomly presented with different emotions (happy, surprised, sad, disgusted, angry, fearful, and neutral) while either uncovered or concealed with a face mask (surgical, KN95, and gaiter). This presentation will discuss the evaluation results of our study. Limitations of the study include: survey taking fatigue, slight changes in facial presentation across stimuli, staged facial expression. Facial expression recognition is important for social processes and communication because face masks obstruct this recognition they hinder social-emotional communication.
Keywords: facial expressions, masks, emotions, emotion recognition, facial masks, emotion expression, emotions, facial obscurity
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Asynchronous Virtual Presentation
Session: 4-2
Location: https://flipgrid.com/886a9638
Time: 0:00