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Pezzotti E, Provenzi L, Naboni C, Capelli E, Ghirardello S, Borgatti R, Orcesi S. Masked or not, I smile to you: Exploring full-term and preterm infants' social smiles to adults wearing a protective facemask. Infant Behav Dev 2024; 75:101947. [PMID: 38593528 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2024.101947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
The early emergence of social smiles is an important milestone of infants' socio-emotional development. Our aim was to assess how the use of protective facemasks by adults affects the display of social smiles in preterm (PT) and full-term (FT) infants at 3 months (corrected age for prematurity). We enrolled 30 FT and 30 PT infants (gestational age ≤ 32 weeks). Infants' social smiles displays were assessed at 2-3-month-age (corrected) across a three-episode (masked mother; unmasked mother; masked adult female stranger) videotaped interactive task. During each episode, the adult was instructed to maintain specific facial expressions (happy-smiling, sad-frowning, neutral-unresponsive) for 15 second windows and then instructed to interact spontaneously for 45 s (of which the first 15 s were coded). FT and PT infants did not differ in the display of social smiles. In both groups, social smiles were mostly exhibited in response to happy/smiling and spontaneously interacting partners. Overall, no effect of wearing a protective facemask emerged. The use of protective facemasks did not result in a lower display of social smiles. The findings suggest that FT and PT might be equally sensitive to their adult interactive partners in terms of social smiles displays at 2-3-month-age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Pezzotti
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Livio Provenzi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Developmental Psychobiology Lab, Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Cecilia Naboni
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Early Neurodevelopment and Parenting Support, Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Elena Capelli
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Stefano Ghirardello
- Department of Pediatrics, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Renato Borgatti
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Simona Orcesi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Early Neurodevelopment and Parenting Support, Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
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Ger E, Manfredi M, Osório AAC, Ribeiro CF, Almeida A, Güdel A, Calbi M, Daum MM. Duration of face mask exposure matters: evidence from Swiss and Brazilian kindergartners' ability to recognise emotions. Cogn Emot 2024:1-15. [PMID: 38576358 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2331795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
Wearing facial masks became a common practice worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated (1) whether facial masks that cover adult faces affect 4- to 6-year-old children's recognition of emotions in those faces and (2) whether the duration of children's exposure to masks is associated with emotion recognition. We tested children from Switzerland (N = 38) and Brazil (N = 41). Brazil represented longer mask exposure due to a stricter mandate during COVID-19. Children had to choose a face displaying a specific emotion (happy, angry, or sad) when the face wore either no cover, a facial mask, or sunglasses. The longer hours of mask exposure were associated with better emotion recognition. Controlling for the hours of exposure, children were less likely to recognise emotions in partially hideen faces. Moreover, Brazilian children were more accurate in recognising happy faces than Swiss children. Overall, facial masks may negatively impact children's emotion recognition. However, prolonged exposure appears to buffer the lack of facial cues from the nose and mouth. In conclusion, restricting facial cues due to masks may impair kindergarten children's emotion recognition in the short run. However, it may facilitate their broader reading of facial emotional cues in the long run.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ebru Ger
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Mirella Manfredi
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Ana Alexandra Caldas Osório
- Developmental Disorders Program, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil
- Mackenzie Center for Research in Childhood and Adolescence, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Alessandra Almeida
- Department of Psychology, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Annika Güdel
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Marta Calbi
- Department of Philosophy "Piero Martinetti", State University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Moritz M Daum
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Yates TS, Lewkowicz DJ. Robust holistic face processing in early childhood during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 232:105676. [PMID: 37018972 PMCID: PMC9998297 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
Abstract
The timing of the developmental emergence of holistic face processing and its sensitivity to experience in early childhood are somewhat controversial topics. To investigate holistic face perception in early childhood, we used an online testing platform and administered a two-alternative forced-choice task to 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children. The children saw pairs of composite faces and needed to decide whether the faces were the same or different. To determine whether experience with masked faces may have negatively affected holistic processing, we also administered a parental questionnaire to assess the children's exposure to masked faces during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that all three age groups performed holistic face processing when the faces were upright (Experiment 1) but not when the faces were inverted (Experiment 2), that response accuracy increased with age, and that response accuracy was not related to degree of exposure to masked faces. These results indicate that holistic face processing is relatively robust in early childhood and that short-term exposure to partially visible faces does not negatively affect young children's holistic face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tristan S Yates
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
| | - David J Lewkowicz
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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LoBue V, Pérez-Edgar K, Kirkham N, Herbert J. The impact of COVID-19 on infant development: A special issue of infancy. INFANCY 2023; 28:4-7. [PMID: 36629027 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jane Herbert
- University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
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