The effect of masks on the recognition of facial expressions: A true-to-life study on the perception of basic emotions

Mouth-to-nose face masks became ubiquitous due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This ignited studies on the perception of emotions in masked faces. Most of these studies presented still images of an emotional face with a face mask digitally superimposed upon the nose-mouth region. A common finding of these studies is that smiles become less perceivable. The present study investigated the recognition of basic emotions in video sequences of faces. We replicated much of the evidence gathered from presenting still images with digitally superimposed masks. We also unearthed fundamental differences in comparison to existing studies with regard to the perception of smile which is less impeded than previous studies implied.

Automated summary

Mouth-to-nose face masks have become widely used due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to studies on the perception of emotions in masked faces. Previous studies using still images with digitally superimposed masks have found that smiles are less perceivable. This study investigated the recognition of basic emotions in video sequences and uncovered fundamental differences compared to previous studies, suggesting that the perception of smiles is less impeded than previously implied.