The impact of mask use on social categorization

Here we examined whether one’s perceptual style in viewing own- and other-race faces is associated with performance and bias in social categorization by race, and whether mask use modulates the perceptual style and social categorization effects. We found that Asian participants who adopted more eyes-focused eye movement patterns when viewing Asian faces had a larger bias to judge 50% Asian-Caucasian face morphs as Asian. However, although mask use made participants’ viewing pattern more eyes-focused, it did not change this bias in judging morphed faces, or other-race advantage in social categorization speed. These results suggest that information from the eye region may be sufficient to induce these social categorization effects, and that transient perceptual input change due to mask use does not modulate these social categorization effects. Thus, effects and biases in social categorization may be impervious to mask use. These findings have important implications for social interaction during the pandemic