Can Preschoolers Recognize the Facial Expressions of People Wearing Masks and Sunglasses? Effects of Adding Voice Information

Early childhood is marked by significant developmental changes in the ability to recognize facial expressions. However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, people have been wearing masks more frequently during social interactions which may hamper the recognition of facial expressions. This study examines whether preschoolers recognize the facial expressions of people with partially covered faces (wearing masks or sunglasses) or uncovered faces better, and whether recognition improves when additional voice information is provided. The participants included 27 Japanese preschoolers (11 boys and 16 girls) aged 3-5 years. The participants were presented with two groups of facial expressions: stimuli showing uncovered faces and those showing faces partially covered with a mask or sunglasses. A two-factor within-participant analysis of variance was conducted on the number of correct facial-expression responses in each trial. The children recognized the expressions of uncovered faces significantly better than those of faces with masks or sunglasses. When voice information was added, they recognized all facial expressions. Therefore, partially covered faces interfere with preschoolers' recognition of facial expressions, and voice information aids facial expression recognition.