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IMAGE: Examples of faces with and without masks similar to the ones used in the experiment. Faces are reproduced with permission from the Chicago Face Database view more
Credit: The Chicago face database: A free stimulus set of faces and norming data.
Feel like you re suffering from face blindness? Research shows masks change the way we process faces
TORONTO, Dec. 21, 2020 - Ever want to walk over to say hello to someone but you re not sure the person behind the mask is in fact someone you know? Researchers at York University in Toronto and Ben-Gurion University in Israel say you re not alone. A new study, led by researchers in the Faculty of Health and VISTA (Vision Science to Applications) program at York, finds that our ability to recognize faces is severely impaired by masks, and this decreased face perception is impacting our social interactions with others.