{"id":138976,"date":"2020-12-22T02:39:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/face-masks-disrupt-facial-recognition-and-daily-life-study\/"},"modified":"2020-12-22T02:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:39:55","slug":"face-masks-disrupt-facial-recognition-and-daily-life-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/face-masks-disrupt-facial-recognition-and-daily-life-study\/","title":{"rendered":"#Face masks disrupt facial recognition and daily life: study"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Face masks disrupt facial recognition and daily life: study<\/strong>”
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The pandemic is turning friends into strangers. <\/p>\n

Thanks to preventative measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission \u2014 including social<\/a> distancing and wearing face masks \u2014 the possibility of meaningful public interaction is all but gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of you who don\u2019t always recognize a friend or acquaintance wearing a mask, you are not alone,\u201d said psychological researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Their new study, appearing in<\/a> the journal Scientific Reports, found that our ability to identify faces we ought to know had been reduced by 15% because of face-blocking masks. <\/p>\n

They also called that finding a likely \u201cunderestimation\u201d of the issue on a mass scale. \u201cThe unprecedented effort to minimize COVID-19 transmission has created a new dimension in facial recognition due to mask-wearing,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The result: misidentification.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could lead to many errors in correctly recognizing people we know, or alternatively, accidentally recognizing faces of unfamiliar people as people we know,\u201d said BGU professor Galia Avidan, an expert in facial recognition and perception, and that those who may already have poor observational skills will find the task of recognition \u201ceven more challenging.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not entirely the individual\u2019s fault. Even the most attentive friends may not be picking up on nuances, which can be difficult to piece together individually. <\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of looking at the entire face, we\u2019re now forced to look at eyes, nose, cheeks and other visible elements separately to construct an entire facial face percept \u2014 which we used to do instantly,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n

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\u2018For those of you who don\u2019t always recognize a friend or acquaintance wearing a mask, you are not alone.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The lifestyle has impacted people in very different ways, Dr. Jessica Stern, a clinical psychologist at NYU Langone Health, told The Post. Echoing the BGU researchers, she said the subject deserves a closer look, especially for those with \u201cless cognitive capacity, like folks who are older,\u201d plus those with \u201cdevelopmental delays\u201d who may already have difficulty with memory and retention or require instruction on how to read faces. Victims of trauma may also have a hard time feeling safe in public without the ability to read the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes it a little bit harder to interact with socially,\u201d Stern said. She found that the loss of some visual communication could make anyone \u201canxious.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe opposite is true for other folks,\u201d Stern added. \u201cBy removing that social cue and that social frame, it\u2019s actually relieved a little bit of anxiety for some people.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, highly recognizable celebs may now roam in public more incognito than ever. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can just run to market, run around Sephora, & go to Drs., & no one knows who I am,\u201d said superstar Cher<\/a> in a recent social media update, in her signature all-caps style.<\/p>\n

Even commoners are relishing in their liberation from social norms such as regular showering, a clean presentation and greeting acquaintances on the street \u2014 as opposed to being compelled to run and hide. (We\u2019ve all done it.)<\/p>\n

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From now on I\u2019m always going to wear a mask to the grocery store, I prefer a disguise when purchasing obscene amounts of junk food.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sarah Thyre (@SarahThyre) May 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

This could be a boon for everyone, Stern suggested, by giving an opportunity to \u201cslow down a little bit and learn about interacting with people in new and different ways.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is really going to be a wonderful opportunity for us to develop our abilities to communicate verbally and more explicitly through words,\u201d with the result of feeling \u201cmore empowered \u2026 more direct, and more assertive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern, who has seen a newfound boldness in some as a result of the relative visual anonymity, believes the benefits of communicating with each other more frankly could stretch beyond the pandemic \u2014 encouraging us \u201cto connect with people a little bit more and to communicate your needs and to understand other people\u2019s needs as well.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n