Emotions Under Masks

Over the past two years, the way in which we interact with one another has changed. During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, social interactions were largely relegated to little boxes on a computer screen and precious phone calls with family and friends. Even the relatively few in-person interactions many of us had during the height of the pandemic were very different than before. Whether it was running into a colleague during a short trip to pick up necessities, or seeing a friend on a more recent adventure outside of the house, our social interactions over the past couple of years have felt lacking.

While social distancing and mask-wearing have helped keep us and our loved ones safe, these measures also have had additional effects on our ability to communicate. Some may have felt that their ability to decode facial expressions has been impaired by masks.

Other people believe that the eyes alone are sufficient to interpret how people feel. This sentiment has been canonized in popular culture with sayings like the eyes are the window to the soul. Likewise, recently a researcher at the University of Plymouth demonstrated that people can recognize facial expressions from only the eyes at a level better than sheer guessing. Given this evidence, we set out to test whether face masks do impair the ability to understand others' facial expressions of emotion.

Communicating Under Masks

We know that a large amount of communication occurs through nonverbal cues. Facial expressions help communicate complex feelings and ideas beyond what is typically communicated with words. Facial expressions help us understand what others are saying, how they are feeling, and what they intend to do. However, face masks conceal some of the facial muscles used to communicate emotions.

A researcher from the University of Bamberg in Germany was the first to show that masks worn during the pandemic reduce the ability to categorize emotional facial expressions and that these expressions were often mistaken for neutral, or no emotion. However, they used still images of facial expressions, which lack some of the communicative signals typically displayed in the real-life movement of faces.

We set out to do a more realistic study. Participants in our study viewed short video clips of people expressing happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise with and without face masks commonly seen during the pandemic (N95s, blue surgical masks, and cloth masks). They then reported the degree to which the person in the video was expressing each of the four emotions.

What we found was that masked faces communicate less of the intended emotion and more of the three other irrelevant emotions. For example, unmasked expressions of sadness clearly communicated sadness; however, a masked face expressing sadness communicated less sadness and more of the other emotions. This impairment was also greater for expressions that are typically displayed using more of the muscles in the lower part of the face (namely, happiness and disgust).

Face Masks, COVID-19, and Beyond

While many people have largely left their masks at home, others report that they intend to continue wearing masks in the future. This may become more common in places that are again seeing rising COVID-19 cases. Likewise, new COVID-19 variants and future epi- and pandemics may again require the use of face masks during social interactions. In some countries, mask-wearing was already a common practice even before the pandemic, and doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals routinely wear face masks to prevent the spread of disease.

People who continue to wear masks on the job or when venturing out of the house should be aware of the loss of information usually communicated by the face. People may not be able to read our emotions as easily as they can when we're maskless. Misunderstandings or awkward interactions could result.

Luckily, a researcher from Sapienza University of Rome and his colleagues found that masks with transparent areas covering the mouth largely eliminate the negative effects of mask-wearing on communication. However, those of us who intend to continue wearing the more common cloth, N95, and KN95 face masks should consider supplementing our communication through routes not impaired by face masks. It never hurts to just tell someone how you feel, at least until we can all leave our masks at home. 

For Further Reading

Langbehn, A. T., Yermol, D. A., Zhao, F., Thorstenson, C. A., & Niedenthal, P. M. (2022). Wearing N95, surgical, and cloth face masks compromises the perception of emotion. Affective Science, 3, 105-117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00097-z

Brooks, J. T., & Butler, J. C. (2021). Effectiveness of mask wearing to control community spread of SARS-CoV-2. JAMA. 325(10), 998-999. https://10.1001/jama20.21.1505

Andrew Langbehn is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research interests are focused on the experience and communication of emotions.