Cultural differences in recognizing emotions of masked faces

What is it about?

Interacting with others while wearing masks has become a challenge during the pandemic. Our study examined the impact of cultural differences on recognizing emotions in masked faces. We found that Americans and Japanese participants differed in their ability to recognize emotions when faces were covered. Specifically, the accuracy of recognizing happy emotions decreased in Americans but not in the Japanese. Our results suggest that the effects of wearing masks on emotion recognition depend on the types of emotions and cultural factors.

Featured Image

Photo by Pille R. Priske on Unsplash

Photo by Pille R. Priske on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings shed light on an important issue that emerged after the pandemic and highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of the impact of wearing masks on social interactions and emotion recognition in different cultural contexts.