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The effect of face mask wearing on language processing and emotion recognition in young children.
Bourke, Lorna; Lingwood, Jamie; Gallagher-Mitchell, Tom; López-Pérez, Belén.
  • Bourke L; Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK. Electronic address: bourkel@hope.ac.uk.
  • Lingwood J; Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK.
  • Gallagher-Mitchell T; Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK.
  • López-Pérez B; School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9NT, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol ; 226: 105580, 2023 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2095613
ABSTRACT
Face mask wearing was an important preventative strategy for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. However, the effects that occluding the mouth and nose area with surgical masks could have on young children's language processing and emotion recognition skills have received little investigation. To evaluate the possible effects, the current study recruited a sample of 74 children from the North West of England (aged 4-8 years). They completed two computer-based tasks with adults wearing or not wearing surgical face masks to assess (a) language processing skills and (b) emotion recognition ability. To control for individual differences, age, sex, receptive vocabulary, early reading skills, and parent-reported social-emotional competence were included in analyses. The findings from the study highlighted that although younger children were less accurate than older children, face masks did not significantly impair basic language processing ability. However, they had a significant effect on the children's emotion recognition accuracy-with masked angry faces more easily recognized and masked happy and sad faces less easily recognized. Children's age and social-emotional skills also played a role. The findings suggest that the effects of face masks should continue to be evaluated.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / Masks Type of study: Experimental Studies Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Child / Child, preschool / Humans Language: English Journal: J Exp Child Psychol Year: 2023 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: COVID-19 / Masks Type of study: Experimental Studies Limits: Adolescent / Adult / Child / Child, preschool / Humans Language: English Journal: J Exp Child Psychol Year: 2023 Document Type: Article