Face-Aware Changes in Liquify aren't working for me unless I make a New Layer from a Selection

[kbarre]

I can make a selection and then make Face-Aware changes in the Liquify module, but they won't actually apply to the image unless I use "Command-J" to first make a new layer from the selection. Other liquify changes, like smudge and expand/contract DO seem to work without copying to a new layer.

I'm running Photoshop 23.3.2 on a Mac Studio M1 Max 10 Core, with 64GB of RAM. 

See the included image for my Performance preferences settings.

[Signfeld]

FYI, that does work on my PC v23.3.1, but I've set up an action that puts a layer or selection on top, then makes it a S.O. and opens Liquify. You can merge down with the same action if you add a stop and use F1 (for example) to Continue. I think it's good practice.

[J453]

Works here on my M1. I don't have a MAX, however. 

Let's make sure we're in a default state and there are no stale settings somewhere:
Restore your preferences using this manual method:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually
Does it work correctly?
If that doesn't solve it, you can quit Photoshop and put the Settings folder back.
If it does solve the problem, I would like to get the folder of settings to try and figure out what is bad with them.