Impact of mask-wearing on emotion recognition accuracy and fixation duration in young children

Introduction Understanding how children recognize facial emotions is essential for explaining the development of social communication. During the COVID-19 pandemic, widespread mask-wearing partially occluded facial expressions, potentially influencing children's emotion recognition processes. Methods This study investigated age-related differences in emotion recognition accuracy and gaze fixation patterns in young children using eye-tracking technology. Participants included 36 three-year-olds and 45 five-year-olds. Children viewed facial expressions representing four emotions (joy, sadness, anger, and fear) presented in both masked and unmasked conditions while fixation duration and recognition accuracy were recorded. Results The results showed significant effects of age, emotion type, and mask-wearing on emotion recognition accuracy. Overall recognition accuracy decreased under masked conditions. Eye-tracking analysis revealed that children allocated significantly greater visual attention to the eye region when faces were masked, whereas gaze distribution between the eyes and mouth was more balanced in unmasked conditions. Discussion These findings suggest that facial occlusion caused by mask-wearing alters visual attention strategies and emotion recognition processes in early childhood. The results provide important insights into how young children adapt their perceptual strategies when key facial cues are partially obscured.