Interfaculty Program of Cognitive Science, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 0G4, Canada.
Departments of Philosophy and Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, H3A 0G4, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 27;13(1):4950. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31680-y.
Face masks obscure a significant portion of the face, reducing the amount of information available to gauge the mental states of others-that is, to exercise the Theory of Mind (ToM) capacity. In three experiments, we assessed the effect of face masks on ToM judgements, measuring recognition accuracy, perceived valence, and perceived arousal in various sets of facial expressions comprising 45 different mental states. Significant effects of face masks were found in all three variables. Judgements of all expressions are less accurate when masked, but, while judgements of negative expressions do not show consistent changes in valence or arousal, positive expressions are perceived to be less positive and less intense. In addition, we identified face muscles associated with changes in perceived valence and arousal, shedding light on the mechanisms through which masks impact ToM judgements, which might be relevant for mitigation strategies. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of the recent pandemic.
口罩遮住了脸部的很大一部分，减少了评估他人心理状态的信息，也就是，降低了心智理论（Theory of Mind，ToM）能力。在三个实验中，我们评估了口罩对面部表情的心智理论判断的影响，测量了在各种不同的包含 45 种不同心理状态的面部表情中，对认知准确性、感知效价和感知唤醒的影响。在所有三个变量中都发现了口罩的显著影响。当被遮住时，对所有表情的判断准确性都会降低，但负面表情的判断在效价或唤醒方面没有一致的变化，而正面表情则被认为不那么积极，也不那么强烈。此外，我们还确定了与感知效价和唤醒变化相关的面部肌肉，这揭示了口罩影响心智理论判断的机制，这可能与缓解策略有关。我们在最近的大流行背景下讨论了这些发现的意义。
