Fluid face but not gender: Enfacement illusion through digital face filters does not affect gender identity.

It has been shown that observing a face being touched or moving in synchrony with our own face increases self-identification with the former which might alter both cognitive and affective processes. The induction of this phenomenon, termed enfacement illusion, has often relied on laboratory tools that are unavailable to a large audience. However, digital face filters applications are nowadays regularly used and might provide an interesting tool to study similar mechanisms in a wider population. Digital filters are able to render our faces in real time while changing important facial features, for example, rendering them more masculine or feminine according to normative standards. Recent literature using full-body illusions has shown that participants' own gender identity shifts when embodying a different gendered avatar. Here we studied whether participants' filtered faces, observed while moving in synchrony with their own face, may induce an enfacement illusion and if so, modulate their gender identity. We collected data from 35 female and 33 male participants who observed a stereotypically gender mismatched version of themselves either moving synchronously or asynchronously with their own face on a screen. Our findings showed a successful induction of the enfacement illusion in the synchronous condition according to a questionnaire addressing the feelings of ownership, agency and perceived similarity. However, we found no evidence of gender identity being modulated, neither in explicit nor in implicit measures of gender identification. We discuss the distinction between full-body and facial processing and the relevance of studying widely accessible devices that may impact the sense of a bodily self and our cognition, emotion and behaviour.

Clinical performance of a light-cured denture base material compared to polymethylmethacrylate--a randomized clinical study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical long-term performance of a visible light-cured resin (VLCR) denture base material and to compare it to a well-established polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-based denture acrylic in a randomized split-mouth clinical long-term study. One hundred removable partial dentures in 90 patients, with at least two saddles each, were investigated. One saddle was made of VLCR, while the other was made of PMMA at random. Plaque adhesion, tissue reaction, and technical parameters of the dentures were assessed 6, 12, and 18 months after treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Though VLCR showed higher plaque adhesion than PMMA after 6, 12, and 18 months (p < 0.001), there were no important differences with regard to tissue reaction. Concerning plaque adhesion, surface quality with regard to the lower side, interfaces between denture acrylic and metal and the boundary between denture acrylic and denture tooth PMMA was rated higher than VLCR. The surface quality of the upper side of the denture saddles showed no significant differences (p > 0.05). Neither VLCR nor PMMA showed discoloration at any point in time (p > 0.05). It can be concluded that VLCR is a viable alternative for the production of removable dentures. Especially in patients with hypersensitivities to PMMA, VLCR is particularly suitable for clinical use.