Recognition of Masked and Unmasked Facial Expressions in Males and Females and Relations with Mental Wellness

Background: While the effects of mask wearing/facial occlusion are known to negatively impact facial expression recognition, little is known about the effects of sex and mental wellness on facial expression recognition, as well as the influence of sex on misattributions errors (i.e., confusions between emotions). In this large study, we aimed to address the relation between facial expression recognition and loneliness, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms in male and female adults. Methods: We assessed the influence of mask-wearing on facial expression recognition (i.e., accuracy and reaction time) via an online study in N=469 adult males and females across Canada. Results: Expectedly, recognition was impaired under masked vs. unmasked conditions (i.e., lower accuracy, longer response times [RT], more misattribution errors). Females vs. males were faster and more accurate, with less misattribution errors. A novel finding was that higher perceived stress predicted lower accuracy to masked fearful faces. Perceived stress influenced the relation between sex and RT to masked happy faces; males with high stress scores were slower to recognize masked happy faces, the opposite was true for females. Finally, this study was among the first to show that higher loneliness predicted longer RT to unmasked faces. Impact: Our results show that facial expression recognition is impaired by mask-wearing, and that sex and mental health features are important predictors of performance. Such insight could be detrimental in certain sectors of the population (e.g., health care or education), and inform policies being adopted in future pandemics.