Long-Term Effects of Pandemic-Era Mask Exposure on Preschoolers’ Emotion Recognition and Gaze Behavior: A Cross-Cohort and Longitudinal Eye-Tracking Study

This study examined the long-term effects of early-life exposure to mask-wearing and reduced facial visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s facial emotion recognition and visual attention patterns. Using a combined cross-cohort and longitudinal design, three groups of children were included: a cohort assessed at age six in 2022 during the pandemic, the same cohort reassessed at age eight in 2024, and an age-matched cohort assessed at age six in 2024 whose core preschool years occurred under fewer pandemic-related social restrictions. Children completed a facial emotion recognition task while their eye movements were recorded. The results showed that children who experienced early development under pandemic-related conditions demonstrated lower recognition accuracy for negative emotions, particularly sadness and anger. Eye-tracking data further revealed systematic differences in visual attention allocation, with greater reliance on the eye region and reduced attention to the mouth. Importantly, these behavioral and attentional patterns remained largely stable when the same children were reassessed two years later, indicating persistence rather than transient delay. No significant group differences were observed in response times. Together, the findings suggest that early adaptations to altered facial input during the pandemic may have lasting implications for emotion-related perceptual strategies. These results underscore the importance of full-face social interactions in early childhood and highlight the need for educational and developmental support for children whose early experiences were shaped by pandemic-related constraints.