The effect of face mask wearing on language processing and emotion recognition in young children.

Face mask wearing was an important preventative strategy for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. However, the effects that occluding the mouth and nose area with surgical masks could have on young children's language processing and emotion recognition skills have received little investigation. To evaluate the possible effects, the current study recruited a sample of 74 children from the North West of England (aged 4-8 years). They completed two computer-based tasks with adults wearing or not wearing surgical face masks to assess (a) language processing skills and (b) emotion recognition ability. To control for individual differences, age, sex, receptive vocabulary, early reading skills, and parent-reported social-emotional competence were included in analyses. The findings from the study highlighted that although younger children were less accurate than older children, face masks did not significantly impair basic language processing ability. However, they had a significant effect on the children's emotion recognition accuracy-with masked angry faces more easily recognized and masked happy and sad faces less easily recognized. Children's age and social-emotional skills also played a role. The findings suggest that the effects of face masks should continue to be evaluated.

Review of emotional intelligence in health care: an introduction to emotional intelligence for surgeons.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this review is to explain the components of emotional intelligence (EI) and explore the benefits within today's health care system with an emphasis on surgery. EI is a person's ability to understand their own emotions and those of the individuals they interact with. Higher individual EI has multiple proposed benefits, such as reducing stress, burnout and increasing work satisfaction. The business world recognizes EI as beneficial in terms of performance and outcomes. Could surgeons benefit from being more cognisant of EI and methods of assessing and improving EI to reap the aforementioned benefits? METHODS: A search of Embase, Cochrane and Medline databases using the following search terms; emotional intelligen*, surg*, medic* yielded 95 articles. After review of all the literature 39 remaining articles and five text books were included. RESULTS: To perform optimally, surgeons must be aware of their own emotions and others. EI differs from IQ and can be taught, learnt and improved upon. EI is measured via validated self-reporting questionnaires and 'multi-rater' assessments. High EI is positively associated with leadership skills in surgeons, non-technical skills, reduction in surgeon stress, burnout and increased job satisfaction, all of which translate to better patient relationships and care. Future implications of EI have been postulated as a measure of performance, a selection tool for training positions and a marker of burnout. EI should be an explicit part of contemporary surgical education and training.