Materials

Qualtrics was used to administer the survey on various social media sites. 

Participants were asked to complete a demographics questionnaire, a Likert-style measure rating their fear about various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, and two experimental tasks. 

Experiment 1 tested whether or not the appearance of masks on the virtual character's face affected the perceived distance of the character.

Experiment 2 tested whether or not masks and familiarity affected the perceived distance of the virtual character. 

Stimuli

Three sets of virtual characters were used in the study (Fred, Joe, and Clyde). These characters were depicted as both wearing and not wearing a mask. They were also depicted at five different distances (4-8ft) in the experiment, each distance varying in 1 ft increments. 

Joe was used in experiment 1. 

Fred and Clyde were used in experiment 2. Fred was used to portray a virtual character that was a "friend" and Clyde was used to portray a virtual character that was a "stranger."

Experiment 1: Mask vs No Mask

The first experiment that participants completed tested whether or not the appearance of masks on the virtual character's face affected the perceived distance of the character. 

At the beginning of the experiment, participants were asked to study a set of silhouettes that depicted the distances that the virtual characters would be presented at. 

Participants were asked to complete a distance matching task for 30 trials. Participants were shown one image per trial (15 images depicted as characters wearing a mask & 15 images depicted as characters not wearing a mask). 

Participants were asked to pick the corresponding distance of the virtual character from a series of multiple-choice options below the image. 

After the completion of 30 trials, participants continued to the next experiment.

Experiment 2: Friend vs Stranger

The second experiment that participants completed tested whether or not the familiarity of the virtual character affected the perceived distance of the character. 

At the beginning of the experiment, participants were asked again to study the same set of silhouettes from the first experiment.

Participants were given a scenario that depicted the following character as either a "friend" or a "stranger."

Friend Scenario: "You are walking in the park and stop to watch a squirrel eat a nut. A person approaches you, and when you look up, you see it is your friend Fred. You stop to talk with Fred, and he informs you that he recently received a promotion. You congratulate him and agree to celebrate with dinner and drinks later that day."

Stranger Scenario: "You are walking to your car and notice someone is getting out of the car parked next to you. He seems to be in a rush and slams his door loudly, making you jump. You do not recognize this person."

Participants were then asked to complete a distance matching task for 60 trials (30 "friend" trials & 30 "stranger" trials.

Participants were asked to complete the same distance matching task from the first experiment for each of the familiarity condition trials.

After the completion of the 60 trials, participants were directed to a demographics questionnaire (gender, education, race/ethnicity) and a Likert-style measure consisting of 7 questions. 

After participants completed these questions, they were directed to the end of the survey and thanked for their time.