Revisiting the Embryology of the Facial Muscles, the Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System, and the Facial Nerve

Neurographics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-228
Author(s):  
P.M. Som ◽  
P.J. Taub ◽  
B.N. Delman

The facial muscles are responsible for nonverbal expression, and the manner by which these muscles function to express various emotions are reviewed. How one recognizes these various facial expressions and how individuals can alter their facial expression are discussed. The methodology for cataloging facial expressions is also presented. The embryology of the facial muscles; the facial ligaments; and the supporting superficial musculoaponeurotic system, which magnifies the muscle movements, is also reviewed as is the embryology of the facial nerve, which innervates these muscles. Also, a detailed MR imaging atlas of the facial muscles is presented.Learning Objective: The reader will learn how the facial muscles develop and how they are the means of human nonverbal emotional expression. The anatomy of the facial ligaments and the superficial musculoaponeurotic system are also discussed

Behaviour ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Bolwig

AbstractIn this report of an unfinished study of the evolution of facial expressions the author draws a brief comparison between the most important facial muscles of various primates and of two carnivores, the suricate and the dog. Before discussing the expressions, definitions of the various elementary emotions are given and the criteria from which the author judges the emotional condition of the animals. The main conclusions reached from the observations are:- 1. Certain basic rules govern the facial expressions of the animals studied. 2. Joy and happiness are expressed by a general lifting of the face and a tightening of the upper lip. The expression originates from preparation for a play-bite. The posture has become completely ritualised in man. 3. Unhappiness expresses itself by a lowering of the face. In horror there is a general tension of the facial muscles and the mouth tends to open while the animal screams. In sadness the animal tends to become less active. 4. Anger is recognisable from a tightening of the facial muscles, particularly those around the mouth in preparation for a hard bite. 5. Threat varies in expression but it contains components of anger and fear. 6. Love and affection find expression through such actions as lipsmacking, love-biting, sucking and kissing. The oral caressing has its origin in the juvenile sucking for comfort. 7. Concentration is not an emotion but it usually shows itself by a tension of the facial muscles. 8. There is a similarity between the two carnivores under discussion and some of the primates. A common pattern of the facial muscles of the suricate and the lemur indicate a common ancestry and brings the two animals to the same level in their ability to express their emotions. The dog, although very different from the monkey in its facial musculature nevertheless resembles it in its mode of expression. This feature seems related to similarities in their biology which have been facilitated by the development of a bifocal vision.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Friska G. Batoteng ◽  
Taufiq F. Pasiak ◽  
Shane H. R. Ticoalu

Abstract: Facial expression recognition is one way to recognize emotions which has not received much attention. Muscles that form facial expressions known as musculli facial, muscles that move the face and form human facial expressions: happy, sad, angry, fearful, disgusted and surprised which are the six basic expressions of human emotion. Human facial expressions can be measured using FACS (Facial Action Coding System). This study aims to determine the facial muscles which most frequently used and most rarely used, and determine the emotion expression of Jokowi, a presidential candidate, through assessment of the facial muscles using FACS. This study is a retrospective descriptive study. The research samples are the whole photo of Jokowi’s facial expression at first presidential debate in 2014, about 30 photos. Samples were taken from a video debate and confirmed to be a photo using Jokowi’s facial expressions which then further analyzed using FACS. The research showed that the most used action units and facial muscle is AU 1 whose work on frontal muscle pars medialis (14.75%). The least appear muscles on Jokowi’s facial expressions were musculus orbicularis oculi, pars palpebralis and AU 24 musculus obicularis oris (0.82%). The dominant facial expressions was seen in Jokowi was sad facial expression (36.67%).Keywords: musculi facialis, facial expression, expression of emotion, FACSAbstrak: Pengenalan ekspresi wajah adalah salah satu cara untuk mengenali emosi yang belum banyak diperhatikan. Otot-otot yang membentuk ekspresi wajah yaitu musculli facialis yang merupakan otot-otot penggerak wajah dan membentuk ekspresi – ekspresi wajah manusia yaitu bahagia, sedih, marah, takut, jijik dan terkejut yang merupakan 6 dasar ekspresi emosi manusia. Ekspresi wajah manusia dapat diukur dengan menggunakan parameter FACS (Facial Action Coding System). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui musculi facialis yang paling sering digunakan dan yang paling jarang digunakan, serta untuk menentukan ekspresi emosi calon presiden Jokowi. Desain penelitian ini yaitu penelitian deskriptif dengan retrospektif. Sampel penelitian ialah seluruh foto ekspresi wajah Jokowi saat debat calon presiden pertama tahun 2014 sebanyak 30 foto. Sampel diambil dari video debat dan dikonfirmasi menjadi foto kemudian dianalisis lebih lanjut menggunakan FACS. Penelitian ini didapatkan hasil bahwa Musculi yang paling banyak digerakkan, yaitu Musculi frontalis pars medialis (14,75%). Musculi yang paling sedikit muncul pada ekspresi wajah Jokowi yaitu musculus orbicularis oculi, pars palpebralis dan musculus obicularis oris (0,82%). Ekspresi wajah yang dominan dinampakkan oleh Jokowi merupakan ekspresi wajah sedih (36,67%).Kata kunci: musculi facialis, ekspresi wajah, ekspresi emosi, FACS


2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 175-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisdair J. G. Taylor ◽  
Louise Bryant

Abstract. Emotion perception studies typically explore how judgments of facial expressions are influenced by invariant characteristics such as sex or by variant characteristics such as gaze. However, few studies have considered the importance of factors that are not easily categorized as invariant or variant. We investigated one such factor, attractiveness, and the role it plays in judgments of emotional expression. We asked 26 participants to categorize different facial expressions (happy, neutral, and angry) that varied with respect to facial attractiveness (attractive, unattractive). Participants were significantly faster when judging expressions on attractive as compared to unattractive faces, but there was no interaction between facial attractiveness and facial expression, suggesting that the attractiveness of a face does not play an important role in the judgment of happy or angry facial expressions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Yano ◽  
Koichi Harada

We introduce a novel parameterization of facial expressions by using elastic surface model. The elastic surface model has been used as a deformation tool especially for nonrigid organic objects. The parameter of expressions is either retrieved from existing articulated face models or obtained indirectly by manipulating facial muscles. The obtained parameter can be applied on target face models dissimilar to the source model to create novel expressions. Due to the limited number of control points, the animation data created using the parameterization require less storage size without affecting the range of deformation it provides. The proposed method can be utilized in many ways: (1) creating a novel facial expression from scratch, (2) parameterizing existing articulation data, (3) parameterizing indirectly by muscle construction, and (4) providing a new animation data format which requires less storage.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Cole

Havi Carel suggested that to ‘fully understand illness it also has to be studied as a lived experience … [in its] existential, ethical and social dimensions’. This paper focuses on empirical work with those with Möbius syndrome on face perception and its implications, on their resilience and on their first person experiences. Möbius is characterized by the congenital absence of movements of the facial muscles; people with the condition cannot shut their eyes or mouths, or make facial expressions. Some also have reduced emotional experience as children. Fortunately, most do develop embodied emotional expression (through gesture and prosody, etc.) and learn that, by sharing these with others, they can also develop emotional experience within themselves. The mutual exchanges of embodied expression may facilitate and reinforce emotional experience.


Author(s):  
A. Pashov

From every 100 cases of Bell’s palsy (idiopathic peripheral facial palsy) from 15 to 30 will not recover completely. Some residuals will remain, and some complications will develop. As residuals, one can name weakness of facial muscles, asymmetry of facial expressions, distortion of taste, hyperacusis, dry eye. Possible complications of long-standing Bell’s palsy (BP) are also numerous: contractures of facial muscles, pathological synkinesis, mass movements, crocodile tears, facial pains, headaches, emotional disbalance etc. Unresolved cases of Bell’s palsy require rehabilitation programs that will address both the issues of general nerve regeneration, complications and irregularities in mimetic movements, and psycho-emotional state of long-standing Bell’s palsy patients. There are several methods and systems to assess the condition of facial nerve and functioning of facial muscles. These scales and systems are either therapist- or patient-graded: House-Brackmann Facial Grading system, Sunnybrook Facial Grading system, Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale (FaCE Scale), Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and several others. At the same time, to compose a well-balanced and focused rehabilitation program, next to subjective assessments and test-photos of standard facial expressions, it is important to have an objective, instrumentally-measured picture of facial nerve recovery, as well as of the physiological ability of mimetic muscles to perform facial movements, to reflect emotions and to produce articulated speech. In that respect, the surface EMG or Nerve Conduction Study (NCS) is the modality of choice. NCS-examination is non-invasive and is relatively easy to perform. It records Compound Muscle Action Potentials (CMAPs) in response to external stimulation. The analysis of recorded graphs allows to evaluate the level of regeneration and maturity of recovering axons in main branches of the facial nerve. At the same time, the standard protocol of NCS does not offer a detailed assessment of each particular muscle of facial expression. It also requires additional time to swap the active electrode position when changing stimulation side from right to left and vice versa. At Crystal Touch Bell’s palsy clinic, we have developed an amended NCS protocol that addresses all mentioned issues. To allow a more detailed assessment of facial muscles, we have added mm.zygomatici (major et minor) and m.depressor anguli oris to the list of measured facial muscles. In order to perform a more focused stimulation and to receive a more “clean” motor responses from facial muscles, we changed the position of stimulating electrode. In the standard protocol, stimulating electrode is placed either pre- or post-auricularly. In Crystal Touch protocol, we position the stimulating electrode above each particular nerve branch that innervates the measured muscle. Therefore, we use six positions of stimulating electrode that correspond to the six measured facial muscles: m.frontalis, m.orbicularis oculi pars superioris, m.nasalis et m.levator labii superioris, mm.zygomatici (major et minor), m.orbicularis oculi pars superioris, m.depressor anguli oris et m.mentalis. To save time required for the examination, instead of placing reference electrode on the nasal bridge (standard protocol), we use contralateral electrode over the same as measured muscle, as a reference electrode. As there are no anastomoses between left and right facial nerves, stimulation of facial nerve on one side will not evoke CMAPs in contralateral facial muscles. This simple amendment allows to save about 15% of total time required for the examination. In this article we also briefly touch the following issues: distortion in reciprocal inhibition of facial muscles-antagonists, forming of the pathological mimetic patterns in the motor cortex due to lack of proprioceptive feedback during long recovery, and the necessity to further investigate from the electrotechnical, engineering and functional point of view the hypothesis of aberrant regeneration as possible cause of facial synkinesis.


2021 ◽  
pp. 83-87
Author(s):  
D.S. Khapchenkova ◽  
◽  
S.О. Dubyna ◽  
K.Yu. Yena ◽  
◽  
...  

Bell's palsy is an acute peripheral paralysis of the facial nerve of unknown etiology. The facial nerve is the seventh cranial nerve. One part of the facial nerve is the motor fibers that innervate the facial muscles. The facial nerve emerges from the brain between the posterior edge of the pons and the medulla oblongata with two roots. The main motor nucleus is responsible for the voluntary control of facial muscles. There are central and peripheral paresis of the facial nerve. Central paresis occurs during а stroke. Peripheral paresis (unilateral muscle weakness of the entire half of the face) develops when the facial nerve is affected from the motor nucleus to the exit from the stylomastoid foramen. Among the various localizations of damage to the peripheral part of the facial nerve, the most common is Bell's palsy as a result of edema and compression of the nerve in the bone canal. Clinical symptoms of facial nerve neuropathy are characterized by acute paralysis or paresis of facial muscles: smoothed skin fold on the affected side of the face; swelling of the cheeks; an inability to close the eyelid, Bell's symptom; facial muscle weakness. The degree of damage is determined by the House Brackmann scale. Treatment with glucocorticosteroids, antiviral drugs, physiotherapy procedures. Purpose — to present a clinical case of a patient with Bell's palsy as an example of delayed diagnosis, treatment and, as a result, long-term restoration of the facial muscles functions. Clinical case. The boy after suffering from the flu, began to complain of acute ear pain, vomiting, lack of movement in the right half of the face, dizziness, insomnia. Asymmetry of the face, lack of movement of the right side of the face, inability to completely close the right eye, a symptom of sailing on the right, muscle weakness were revealed during examination. The general condition of the patient improved, facial expressions were restored, sleep was normalized after hormonal, metabolic therapy, physiotherapy procedures. Conclusions. The article describes a case of inflammation of the facial nerve or Bell's palsy in a teenager who developed on the background of the flu. Timely diagnosis and treatment of the above pathology is the key to a satisfactory prognosis for the restoration of facial expressions, prevention of negative consequences of the the disease. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. No conflict of interest was declared by the authors. Key words: facial nerve, Bell's palsy, flu, inflammation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Yi ◽  
Philip Pärnamets ◽  
Andreas Olsson

Responding appropriately to others’ facial expressions is key to successful social functioning. Despite the large body of work on face perception and spontaneous responses to static faces, little is known about responses to faces in dynamic, naturalistic situations, and no study has investigated how goal directed responses to faces are influenced by learning during dyadic interactions. To experimentally model such situations, we developed a novel method based on online integration of electromyography (EMG) signals from the participants’ face (corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major) during facial expression exchange with dynamic faces displaying happy and angry facial expressions. Fifty-eight participants learned by trial-and-error to avoid receiving aversive stimulation by either reciprocate (congruently) or respond opposite (incongruently) to the expression of the target face. Our results validated our method, showing that participants learned to optimize their facial behavior, and replicated earlier findings of faster and more accurate responses in congruent vs. incongruent conditions. Moreover, participants performed better on trials when confronted with smiling, as compared to frowning, faces, suggesting it might be easier to adapt facial responses to positively associated expressions. Finally, we applied drift diffusion and reinforcement learning models to provide a mechanistic explanation for our findings which helped clarifying the underlying decision-making processes of our experimental manipulation. Our results introduce a new method to study learning and decision-making in facial expression exchange, in which there is a need to gradually adapt facial expression selection to both social and non-social reinforcements.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua W Maxwell ◽  
Eric Ruthruff ◽  
michael joseph

Are facial expressions of emotion processed automatically? Some authors have not found this to be the case (Tomasik et al., 2009). Here we revisited the question with a novel experimental logic – the backward correspondence effect (BCE). In three dual-task studies, participants first categorized a sound (Task 1) and then indicated the location of a target face (Task 2). In Experiment 1, Task 2 required participants to search for one facial expression of emotion (angry or happy). We observed positive BCEs, indicating that facial expressions of emotion bypassed the central attentional bottleneck and thus were processed in a capacity-free, automatic manner. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect but found that morphed emotional expressions (which were used by Tomasik) were not processed automatically. In Experiment 3, we observed similar BCEs for another type of face processing previously shown to be capacity-free – identification of familiar faces (Jung et al., 2013). We conclude that facial expressions of emotion are identified automatically when sufficiently unambiguous.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182199299
Author(s):  
Mohamad El Haj ◽  
Emin Altintas ◽  
Ahmed A Moustafa ◽  
Abdel Halim Boudoukha

Future thinking, which is the ability to project oneself forward in time to pre-experience an event, is intimately associated with emotions. We investigated whether emotional future thinking can activate emotional facial expressions. We invited 43 participants to imagine future scenarios, cued by the words “happy,” “sad,” and “city.” Future thinking was video recorded and analysed with a facial analysis software to classify whether facial expressions (i.e., happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, and neutral facial expression) of participants were neutral or emotional. Analysis demonstrated higher levels of happy facial expressions during future thinking cued by the word “happy” than “sad” or “city.” In contrast, higher levels of sad facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “sad” than “happy” or “city.” Higher levels of neutral facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “city” than “happy” or “sad.” In the three conditions, the neutral facial expressions were high compared with happy and sad facial expressions. Together, emotional future thinking, at least for future scenarios cued by “happy” and “sad,” seems to trigger the corresponding facial expression. Our study provides an original physiological window into the subjective emotional experience during future thinking.


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