Neuronal correlates of voluntary facial movements

Whereas the somatotopy of finger movements has been extensively studied with neuroimaging, the neural foundations of facial movements remain elusive. Therefore, we systematically studied the neuronal correlates of voluntary facial movements using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS, Ekman et al., 2002). The facial movements performed in the MRI scanner were defined as Action Units (AUs) and were controlled by a certified FACS coder. The main goal of the study was to investigate the detailed somatotopy of the facial primary motor area (facial M1). Eighteen participants were asked to produce the following four facial movements in the fMRI scanner: AU1+2 (brow raiser), AU4 (brow lowerer), AU12 (lip corner puller) and AU24 (lip presser), each in alternation with a resting phase. Our facial movement task induced generally high activation in brain motor areas (e.g., M1, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, putamen), as well as in the thalamus, insula, and visual cortex. BOLD activations revealed overlapping representations for the four facial movements. However, within the activated facial M1 areas, we could find distinct peak activities in the left and right hemisphere supporting a rough somatotopic upper to lower face organization within the right facial M1 area, and a somatotopic organization within the right M1 upper face part. In both hemispheres, the order was an inverse somatotopy within the lower face representations. In contrast to the right hemisphere, in the left hemisphere the representation of AU4 was more lateral and anterior compared to the rest of the facial movements. Our findings support the notion of a partial somatotopic order within the M1 face area confirming the “like attracts like” principle (Donoghue et al., 1992). AUs which are often used together or are similar are located close to each other in the motor cortex.