Many of us are used to seeing face masks but many still find it hard to recognize faces with the said covering on the face.
A man smokes a cigarette with his eyes covered by a face mask as he takes part in a protest against the use of protective masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Madrid, Spain
Unfortunately, while safety measures help deter and control coronavirus's spread, some individuals face a whole new covering problem: a touch of face blindness.
In a recent preprint study reported on the PsyArXiv Preprints server, researchers noticed that, relative to unmasked individuals, people were less likely to recognize masked images.
Although the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, further research is required. It revealed that participants find it challenging to identify masked faces that they might have suffered from face blindness.
However, something to bear in mind: only because you might be unable to recognize masked figures right now, that does not imply that you have face blindness, but it does go a small distance to explaining what dealing with the condition feels like. Here's what, in general, you ought to hear about face blindness.
What is Facial Blindness?
Face blindness, also known as prosopagnosia, is a neurological condition that, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), relates to the failure to recognize images. There are various levels of face blindness. Some people will find it challenging to identify the face of the person. Others cannot differentiate between unfamiliar faces, and some will not discern faces from separate items in certain extreme situations.
Brad Duchaine, PhD, Dartmouth University professor of psychological and brain sciences, tells Health that approximately one in 50 persons who suffer from facial blindness have a significant effect on their everyday lives.
Doctors think that face blindness is induced by brain defects or disability, especially the correct fusiform gyrus, or a certain fold in the brain that, according to the NINDS, helps with facial vision and memory. Some persons experience a lifespan of facial blindness. Others acquire it unexpectedly following brain injuries, such as stroke, head damage, or certain neurodegenerative disorders. Face blindness is not induced by visual deficiency, disabilities of literacy, or lack of memory.
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It is also interesting that while face blindness is not a typical autism spectrum disorder occurrence, it tends to be more frequent among children who have it, according to the NINDS, likely due to disrupted social progress. Yet in addition, face blindness can be challenging to live with individually and professionally. In rare situations, in photographs or mirrors, persons with facial blindness often struggle to recognize near relatives and even their own faces, Duchaine notes. They have difficulty following films and TV programs, as well.
Do Face Masks Make Life More Difficult For People With Facial Blindness?
While face covers can render facial identification challenging for anybody, and although masks do not cause true face blindness, as you would expect, they are not usually as big a concern for people with face blindness.
Duchaine said face masks make it more difficult to recognize others for people with face blindness. However, because many people with face blindness may not rely on the face as strongly, face masks might have less influence on them than individuals with regular face identification.
In reality, Duchaine recently went through responses from prosopagnosia patients who visited his research platform Faceblind.org (the research team involves doctors from Harvard University and London University) and he came across a message from a woman who said she "loves COVID-19 masks."
It's because they don't inhibit her ability to identify faces. Rather they impair her ability to recognize objects." Only something to think about the next time you do a double-take on a pal sporting a mask.
Wearing Face Masks and Face Blindness: What's The Silver Lining?
However, a shocking positive lining to masks might have been uncovered through recent findings from the U.S. We may be rendered more desirable by them.
Collaborative research between the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University College of Health asked participants to rate the attractiveness of a cross-section of people with and without masks. When wearing a surgical-style mask, they observed that 70 percent of allegedly "average-looking" individuals were more desirable.
According to CBC.ca, research co-author and clinical psychologist David Sarwer said that either prominent characteristics or asymmetrical features of the lower face are camouflaged by the mask.
He explained that we see certain people as more attractive in reality since less attractive features are now concealed by the face's covering.
Sarwer suggests that another explanation is that the pupils, which are left visible, are essential indicators of facial beauty.
It's something we're trained from a very early age. Sarwer explained that we're taught to look them right in the eyes while we're talking to others as adults. Because we're definitely getting some of the socialization, as well as some ingrained biology that drives us to be drawn to the eyes of strangers.
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