ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2022
The effect of masks on cognitive performance.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Safety implications of mask use: a systematic review and evidence map.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of wearing a surgical face mask on cognitive functioning and mood states: a randomised controlled trial in young adults.Cognitive processing · 2025Trial
- Speed and quality of complex strategic decisions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Computers and chess masters: The role of AI in transforming elite human performance.British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953) · 2026Article
- Risks and benefits of face masks in children.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- WHO'Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Adverse Effects of the Long-term use of an N95 Respirator in Healthcare Workers.Juntendo medical journal · 2025Article
- Three years of COVID-19-related school restrictions and mental health of children and adolescents in Japan.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Task-related oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex as a function of mask-wearing frequency: An empirical test using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.Neuroimage. Reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The use of face masks has been a key response to the COVID-19 pandemic in almost every country. However, despite widespread use of masks in classrooms and offices around the world, almost nothing is known about their effects on cognitive performance. Using a natural experiment, I show that mandatory mask wearing has a negative causal effect on the cognitive performance of competitive chess players. I analyzed the quality of almost 3 million chess moves played by 8,531 individuals (ages 5-98 y) in 18 countries before and during the pandemic. Wearing a mask decreased the quality of players' decisions-a measure of their cognitive performance-by approximately one-third of an SD. However, the disruptive effect of masks is relatively short-lived, gradually weakening such that there is no measurable disadvantage from wearing a mask after roughly 4 h of play. The mask effect is driven by a large, negative effect for experts, with minimal change in performance at lower levels, and is stronger in high-incentive competitions. I provide support for a distraction mechanism whereby masks interfere with performance when working memory load is high.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.