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Facemasks and face recognition: Potential impact on synaptic plasticity.

Chiara Ferrari¹, Tomaso Vecchi¹, Giuseppe Sciamanna²

¹Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy; IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.

Neurobiology of Disease

|March 1, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Facemasks during the pandemic may impact facial recognition by altering neural responses. This could potentially reset the adult brain

Keywords:

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease Emotional facial expressions Face perception Face recognition LTD LTP Long-term synaptic plasticity Pandemics SARS-CoV-2

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychology
Social Interaction

Background:

Facial expression recognition is crucial for social interaction.
Neural encoding of facial information involves synaptic plasticity.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitates measures like facemasks, impacting social cues.

Purpose of the Study:

Review neurobiology of facial recognition.
Discuss facemask impact on neural responses.
Explore potential brain plasticity adaptations.

Main Methods:

Literature review of neurobiological substrates.
Analysis of synaptic plasticity in face recognition.
Discussion of altered visual experience due to facemasks.

Main Results:

Facemasks may impair neural processing of facial cues.
Reduced salient stimuli could affect learning and memory for faces.
Potential for a "reset" mechanism in adult brain plasticity.

Conclusions:

Pandemic-related facemask use presents challenges to facial recognition.
Altered visual input may necessitate neural adaptations.
Further research is needed on the long-term effects on brain plasticity.