Wearing mask hinders emotion recognition, but enhances perception of attractiveness

Abstract

The current global pandemic situation due to the Covid-19 has implied several consequences at all psychological levels. One of the main differences with respect to the pre-pandemic life in most of countries around the world is the obligation to wear a mask for citizens. This new habit could have several issues for human relationships. The current research aimed to explore the effect of wearing a mask on both emotion recognition and perception of attractiveness. Two hundred and two participants completed a task consisting of 24 face images presented twice, with and without mask. Of them, there were six images for emotion: anger, sadness, fear, and happiness. The results showed that emotion recognition was worse when wearing a face mask except for surprise: happiness, η² = 0.84; anger, η² = 0.74; anger, η² = 52. Moreover, wearing a mask enhanced the perception of attractiveness both in male and female in all emotions except for happiness: sadness, η² = 0.22; surprise, η² = 0.05, and anger, η² = 0.03. Finally, social implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Keywords: Attractiveness; Covid-19; Emotion recognition; Mask.

Fig. 1

Example of face with and without mask.