Investigating the Impact of Cerebral vs Peripheral Visual Issues on Emotion Recognition Using a New Silicone-based...

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Vision Science
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Standard face masks limit visual cues crucial for social interaction, particularly for children and individuals with visual impairments (VI).
• Existing individual protection devices (IPDs) do not adequately address the need for preserving facial information during communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an innovative silicone-based semi-transparent face mask prototype.
• To assess the impact of the semi-transparent mask on emotion inference from facial expressions in children with different types of VI.

Main Methods:

• Developed a semi-transparent silicone face mask prototype.
• Conducted emotion inference tests using facial expressions on groups of sighted children and children with peripheral visual impairment (PVI) and cerebral visual impairment (CVI).
• Trained a connectionist model to analyze facial features and emotion labels.

Main Results:

• The semi-transparent mask significantly improved emotion classification accuracy in children with PVI.
• Children with CVI showed reduced emotion recognition performance in both masked and unmasked conditions.
• The connectionist model demonstrated potential in explaining performance differences related to VI types.

Conclusions:

• Semi-transparent masks can enhance social interaction for individuals with PVI by preserving visual cues.
• Cerebral VI presents unique challenges for facial emotion processing, even with improved visual information.
• This research offers guidelines for visual rehabilitation practitioners on selecting IPDs that support individuals with VI.