Abstract
Studies on perception of masked faces are promoted by daily use of sanitary masks in response to COVID-19 epidemic. Two models provide predictions of attractiveness perceived from faces wearing masks: the amplification model (Orghian & Hidalgo, 2020) predicts that masks increase facial attractiveness, whereas the normalization model (Miyazaki & Kawahara, 2016) predicts an interaction due to reduction of distinctive features. The present study examined these models using free-choice tasks. Participants chose to reveal a face photograph from one of the two piles at a time. In Experiment 1, one pile consisted of highly attractive male masked faces and the other consisted of equivalent male unmasked faces The results indicated that female participants were more likely to choose the unmasked pile, while male participants demonstrated no such tendency. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern of biased opposite-sex preference with female photographs. These results supported the normalization model over the amplification model.
