Abstract/Summary

Face masks present a new challenge to face identification (here matching) and emotion recognition in Western cultures. Here we present the results of three experiments that test the effect of masks, and also the effect of sunglasses (an occlusion that individuals tend to have more experienced with) on 1) familiar face matching, 2) unfamiliar face matching, and 3) emotion categorisation. Occlusion reduced accuracy in all three tasks, with most errors in the mask condition, however there was little difference in performance for faces in masks compared to faces in sunglasses. Super-recognisers, people who are highly skilled at matching unconcealed faces, were impaired by occlusion, but at the group level, performed with higher accuracy than controls on all tasks. Results inform psychology theory with implications for everyday interactions, security, and policing in a mask wearing society.