A new study has revealed that wearing a face mask can temporarily disrupt the decision-making process, hampering cognitive performance in certain sports, and professions like communications, language interpreters, performers, waiters, and teachers.

The University of Queensland (UQ) research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed almost three million chess moves played by more than 8,000 people in 18 countries before and during the pandemic. It found wearing a mask substantially reduced the average quality of player decisions.