Cortical control of facial expression

The present Review deals with the motor control of facial expressions in humans. Facial expressions are a central part of human communication. Emotional face expressions have a crucial role in human nonverbal behavior, allowing a rapid transfer of information between individuals. Facial expressions can be either voluntarily or emotionally controlled. Recent studies in nonhuman primates and humans have revealed that the motor control of facial expressions has a distributed neural representation. At least five cortical regions on the medial and lateral aspects of each hemisphere are involved: the primary motor cortex, the ventral lateral premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area on the medial wall, and the rostral and caudal cingulate cortex. The results of studies in humans and nonhuman primates suggest that the innervation of the face is bilaterally controlled for the upper part and mainly contralaterally controlled for the lower part. Furthermore, the primary motor cortex, the ventral lateral premotor cortex, and the supplementary motor area are essential for the voluntary control of facial expressions. In contrast, the cingulate cortical areas are important for emotional expression, because they receive input from different structures of the limbic system.