Surgical face masks do not impair the decoding of facial expressions of negative affect more severely in older than in younger adults.

ABSTRACT: Surgical face masks reduce the spread of airborne pathogens but also disturb the flow of information between individuals. The risk of getting seriously ill after infection with SARS-COV-2 during the present COVID-19 pandemic amplifies with age, suggesting that face masks should be worn especially during face-to-face contact with and between older people. However, the ability to accurately perceive and understand communication signals decreases with age, and it is currently unknown whether face masks impair facial communication more severely in older people. We compared the impact of surgical face masks on dynamic facial emotion recognition in younger (18-30 years) and older (65-85 years) adults (N = 96) in an online study. Participants watched short video clips of young women who facially

SUBMITTER: Henke L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9287709 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature