# Motor Compositionality in the Control of Facial Movements

> **NIH NIH R01** · ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $382,811

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
There is a fundamental gap in our understanding of the neural mechanisms of facial movements, both expressive
and voluntary ones. The existence of this conceptual gap constitutes an important problem because, until it is
filled, we will not be able to explain how the emotions are expressed nor how human speech is controlled, and
the processes causing the many disorders of social communication remain elusive. The long-term goal is to
understand how facial motor systems, cortical and sub-cortical ones, integrate sensory, emotional, and cognitive
inputs and transform them into coherent motor acts. The overall objective of this proposal is the determination
of the functional organization and the fundamental mechanisms by which a set of distributed cortical areas
controls facial muscles to generate coherent facial movements. The experimental model system is a set of
cortical areas with direct projections to the facial nucleus. It allows for testing of the central hypothesis that both
emotional and voluntary facial movements are controlled through the coordinated activity of a network of cortical
areas, each with a unique functional specialization. The rationale for this proposal is that completion of the
research will uncover, for the first time, the neural mechanisms for facial movement control, imposing critical
constraints on general motor control theory and the mechanisms and origins of speech. The central hypothesis
will be tested through three specific aims: Aim 1 will determine the functional organization of cortex for facial
movement control. The working hypothesis that both emotional and voluntary movements are coded by both
medial and lateral cortical face-motor areas will be tested using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
and electrophysiological recordings from fMRI-identified face-motor areas. Aim 2 will determine the functional
network structure of cortical face movement areas. The working hypothesis that cortical face-motor areas
operate as a network will be tested through functional interaction analyses and joint electrical stimulation and
electrophysiology. Aim 3 will determine the principles of descending control of facial musculature. The working
hypothesis that facial movements are coded through sequences of neural states, translated by muscle synergies
into facial signals will be tested through joint electrical stimulation, electrophysiology and electromyography. The
approach is innovative, because it brings a new model system to motor neuroscience, a new paradigm and multi-
modal experimental approach to the study of the neural mechanisms, from the level of single cells to large-scale
networks, of social communication, and because it challenges long-held views on the neural substrates of facial
movement. The proposed research is significant, because it will provide a new dimension to motor control theory,
it will define how emotions are translated into expressions and how social signals are generated, it...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928143
- **Project number:** 5R01NS110901-02
- **Recipient organization:** ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Winrich Freiwald
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $382,811
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-15 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928143

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928143, Motor Compositionality in the Control of Facial Movements (5R01NS110901-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928143. Licensed CC0.

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