The Effects of Face Masks on Facial Emotion Detection and Word Identification.

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2021-08-24
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en
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During the pandemic, individuals are advised to wear face. This study explores the effects of face masks on verbal and nonverbal communication. Previous research suggests that obstruction of visual cues can hinder the identification words and the recognition of emotions. More specifically, previous studies show that masks impair the recognition of anger, joy, and sadness. Prior research was conducted using static facial expressions, but the present study used dynamic facial. Moreover, this study used two types of words, words that are part of a minimal pair and words that are not part of a minimal pair, to investigate to what extend face masks impair word identification. A total number of 120 participants took part in the present study. First, participants were exposed to videos of actors, with or without a face mask, displaying facial expressions of anger, joy, sadness, fear, or neutral emotions and were asked to identify the emotion in each video. The results show that face masks impair the detection of sadness and fear. Furthermore, the results show that face masks did not influence the perception of neutral facial expressions and perhaps even enhanced the recognition of joy. Secondly, participants were exposed to videos of actors, with or without a face mask, pronouncing two types of words, words that are part of a minimal pair and words that are not part of a minimal pair, and were asked to identify the word being pronounced. The results show that face masks hinder the ability to identify words that are part of a minimal pair. These findings confirm the prediction that face masks hinder verbal and nonverbal communication. Individuals should thus carefully express their emotions and pay close attention to articulating words for the receiver to understand. Future research may focus on the effects of face masks in a conversational setting.
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