The facial motor system

Facial movements support a variety of functions in human behavior. They participate in automatic somatic and visceral motor programs, they are essential in producing communicative displays of affective states and they are also subject to voluntary control. The multiplicity of functions of facial mus...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2014, Vol.38, p.135-159
Main Authors: CATTANEO, Luigi, PAVESI, Giovanni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - physiology
Ear, auditive nerve, cochleovestibular tract, facial nerve: diseases, semeiology
Face - anatomy & histology
Face - innervation
Face - physiology
Facial Expression
Facial Muscles - anatomy & histology
Facial Muscles - innervation
Facial Muscles - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Medical sciences
Motor Activity
Motor Cortex - anatomy & histology
Motor Cortex - physiology
Motor Neurons - physiology
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Nervous system as a whole
Neurology
Non tumoral diseases
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
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Summary:Facial movements support a variety of functions in human behavior. They participate in automatic somatic and visceral motor programs, they are essential in producing communicative displays of affective states and they are also subject to voluntary control. The multiplicity of functions of facial muscles, compared to limb muscles, is reflected in the heterogeneity of their anatomical and histological characteristics that goes well beyond the conventional classification in single facial muscles. Such parcellation in different functional muscular units is maintained throughout the central representation of facial movements from the brainstem up to the neocortex. Facial movements peculiarly lack a conventional proprioceptive feedback system, which is only in part vicariated by cutaneous or auditory afferents. Facial motor activity is the main marker of endogenous affective states and of the affective valence of external stimuli. At the cortical level, a complex network of specialized motor areas supports voluntary facial movements and, differently from upper limb movements, in such network there does not seem to be a prime actor in the primary motor cortex.
ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.11.002