By Dr. Sairaj Patki,
The COVID-19 pandemic re-introduced the world to specific security norms like physical distancing and wearing of face masks, which, immediately after a year, have now turn out to be component of our day-to-day routines and typical practices. The regulations associated to mandatory wearing of face masks appropriately covering the nose and mouth might be lifted in some nations as vaccination picks up pace, but it would nonetheless be deemed as pro-wellness behavior, proper public behavior and even as an act of social conscientiousness. While the wellness rewards of these practices are immense, their psycho-social repercussions are only not too long ago becoming visible. This post aims to draw the reader’s interest to one such region that is most likely to be impacted – facial emotional expression recognition in infants.
The value of the face in human communication
The value of non-verbal communication has been nicely highlighted in literature and specifically for humans, facial expressions accounts for a big proportion of facts shared involving people with out making use of spoken language. For centuries, performing and fine artists have utilized this wisdom to accentuate the focus of the audience on the actor’s / subject’s face, by use of numerous perceptual tools.
What tends to make facial expressions even more important for humans is the reality that even though non-verbal cues like gestures, hand movements, and posture might undergo variability across cultures, facial expressions are basically universal. Facial emotional expression recognition research, which includes classical research by Dr. Paul Ekman and more current ones by Dr. David Matsumoto, have supported this notion of universality of fundamental human feelings. Neurological research have identified brain structures like the fusiform gyrus that allow facial recognition in humans. An in-constructed brain structure committed to this also points to its evolutionary significance.
Face perception in infants
A big body of proof suggests that infants have a generalized bias to attend to faces and face-like stimuli considering that birth. While visual acuity improves across infancy, eye-movement and fixation research have shown, that even six months old infants favor human-like faces / features rather than non-human stimuli. As they develop, infants find out more certain facial expression and micro-expression generation by mimicking adults about them by way of observational studying.
Infants expanding amidst the pandemic scenario
An estimated 116 infants have been born globally inside the initially nine months considering that the declaration of the pandemic! These infants would have entered the important developmental stage of their lives exactly where facial recognition and facial expression generation abilities are anticipated to be fostered. Interaction with strangers in the presence of major caregivers is an integral component of the initially lessons in socialization for infants. They find out the fundamentals of trust and mistrust by way of these experiences. The social exposure to other humans for these infants born through the pandemic would nonetheless be particularly restricted. The uneasiness, awkwardness and subtle anxiousness seasoned by the caregivers when in close proximity with other humans would be sensed by the infant by way of non-verbal cues like skin stress, grasp tension, postures, gestures and so on. These initially lessons in socialization would regrettably be coloured with the shades of doubt and anxiousness in more instances than not.
For these who really see humans apart from their major care-givers, a majority of them would see masked faces rather than the usual human face that their brains are wired to perceive. The infant beneath a usual circumstance also would go by way of a series of dilemmas when faced with strangers. The facial expressions of the stranger would provide some cues about the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the encounter. Infants exposed to masked strangers nonetheless would face serious challenges in generating comprehensive sense of the strangers’ intentions and feelings.
To what extent would these unique situations influence the adulthood social interactions of these infants is a thing that only time will assistance have an understanding of. Later positive and wealthy social experiences and encounters might cover up for the early infancy experiences. For some infants, the studying curve for social abilities might be steeper than usual. Lack of warm interpersonal interactions was becoming discussed even ahead of the pandemic struck and socio-emotional abilities coaching for the younger generation was becoming prescribed. Keeping the deprivation of socialization seasoned by the infants born through the pandemic in thoughts, more proactive efforts by caregivers, teachers and counsellors would be expected.
Masks need to be a barrier just for the virus, not for human bonding!
(The author is Assistant Professor (Psychology) FLAME University. Views expressed are private and do not reflect the official position or policy of the TheSpuzz Online.)