Transparent Masks Reduce the Negative Impact of Opaque Masks on Understanding Emotional States but Not on Sharing Them

Autor/inn/en	McCrackin, Sarah D.; Provencher, Sabrina; Mendell, Ethan; Ristic, Jelena
Titel	Transparent Masks Reduce the Negative Impact of Opaque Masks on Understanding Emotional States but Not on Sharing Them
Quelle	In: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7 (2022), Artikel 59 (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (McCrackin, Sarah D.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2365-7464
DOI	10.1186/s41235-022-00411-8
Schlagwörter	Disease Control; Human Body; Recognition (Psychology); Psychological Patterns; Inferences; Affective Behavior; Theory of Mind; Empathy; Nonverbal Communication + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Menschlicher Körper; Recognition; Wiedererkennen; Inference; Inferenz; Affective disturbance; Active behaviour; Affektive Störung; Empathie; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation
Abstract	While face masks provide necessary protection against disease spread, they occlude the lower face parts (chin, mouth, nose) and consequently impair the ability to accurately perceive facial emotions. Here we examined how wearing face masks impacted making inferences about emotional states of others (i.e., affective theory of mind; Experiment 1) and sharing of emotions with others (i.e., affective empathy; Experiment 2). We also investigated whether wearing transparent masks ameliorated the occlusion impact of opaque masks. Participants viewed emotional faces presented within matching positive (happy), negative (sad), or neutral contexts. The faces wore opaque masks, transparent masks, or no masks. In Experiment 1, participants rated the protagonists' emotional valence and intensity. In Experiment 2, they indicated their empathy for the protagonist and the valence of their emotion. Wearing opaque masks impacted both affective theory of mind and affective empathy ratings. Compared to no masks, wearing opaque masks resulted in assumptions that the protagonist was feeling less intense and more neutral emotions. Wearing opaque masks also reduced positive empathy for the protagonist and resulted in more neutral shared valence ratings. Wearing transparent masks restored the affective theory of mind ratings but did not restore empathy ratings. Thus, wearing face masks impairs nonverbal social communication, with transparent masks able to restore some of the negative effects brought about by opaque masks. Implications for the theoretical understanding of socioemotional processing as well as for educational and professional settings are discussed. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01