Wearing Masks Generates Approach Motivation in Times of COVID-19

Background With the global prevalence of COVID-19, governments recommended wearing face masks as a protective measure. Recent studies have found that face mask influences gaze perception, but the neural mechanism by which the masked face generates approach or avoidance motivation is still unclear. This study investigated whether wearing a mask produced motivation for approach or avoidance. Methods Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy(fNIRS) technology, participants engaged in a gender judgment task. They were shown five faces consecutively, either all masked or all non-masked with three types of gaze directions, and were tasked with determining the gender of the five faces. Following this, they needed to evaluate these faces for attractiveness, trustworthiness, and susceptibility to disease, and to complete related questionnaires. Frontal asymmetry scores (FAS) was obtained by subtracting the oxyhemoglobin of the left channel from that of the right channel, with scores above 0 indicating approach motivation and scores below 0 indicating avoidance motivation. Results The results revealed significant differences in FAS between the prefrontal cortex of masked faces and non-masked faces of the gaze direction at 0°. While at 6° and 12°, no such observation in FAS scores were found between the two face types. Additionally, compared to the non-masked face, the masked face having a slightly higher score in trustworthiness and attractiveness, and a lower score in susceptibility. Conclusion The findings show that face mask generates approach motivation. The present findings are of significance for understanding the impact of wearing masks on human social cognition in the context of COVID-19.