Not just a disguise
Once again, a cognitive neuroscientist has proven… the obvious?
We live in a challenging time; masks are an accepted article of apparel. And if you find that the simple effort to don that bit of tissue makes it harder to recognize people around us, let’s review the history of the mask.
No, it wasn’t invented to fend off the virus. Rather, people have worn them for most of recorded history to “mask” their features. Think about the train robbers in cinema. The engineer might have reacted to the drawn pistol, but the kerchief was as important. Hard to pick out a criminal in a lineup, when the mask was no longer in place.
Ditto for the intrigue of the European court. The mask (in an astonishing range of formats) allowed one to pass incognito. Mask. Get it?
So, let’s check into the efforts of some academic researchers. They’ve discovered that the simple mask reduces facial recognition. There’s even a scientific name for the effect: prosopagnosia. Try it out on your friends (the word, not the disguise). And even if Hallowe’en got a pass this year, it will return. Along with the mask. Not the germ shield, but something more visually attractive.
In other news, the taxation people are gearing up for a difficult season. Most of us are hopeless when it comes to reporting variations in our income. Throw in the ravages of the pandemic, and the absurd rule bending applied to CERB. Now, we’re getting set to answer a lot of questions. In fact, the revenue people plan to hire a lot of extra help, this year. Good for the economy, I guess.
