It receives information from the face and controls the superficial facial muscles.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Two categories of facial muscles
- Two cranial nerves
- Facial feedback hypothesis
- Impaired facial expression

Facial expressions are mediated by muscles, cranial nerves, and CNS pathways

Some cranial nerves are sensory, motor, or both. 

- I. Olfactory: smell (sensory)
- II. Optic: vision (sensory)
- III. Oculomotor: moves eye (motor)
- IV. Trochlear: moves eye (motor)
- V. Trigeminal: face sensation and chewing (both) 
- VI. Abducens: moves eye (motor)
- VII. Facial: tongue sensation and facial expressions (both)
- VIII. Vestibulocochlear: hearing and balance (sensory)
- IX. Glossopharyngeal: taste and throat muscles (both)
- X. Vagus: internal organ sensation and movement (both)
- XI. Spinal Accessory: neck muscles (motor)
- XII. Hypoglossal: tongue muscles (motor) 



The cranial nerves and their functions

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

They attach to facial skin. On contraction they change the shape of the mouth, eyes, or nose, etc.

Superficial facial muscles

They attach to bone. They enable movements such as chewing and large movements of the face.

Deep facial muscles

Facial nerve (VII)

Its main function is to receives information from the face and controls jaw musculature.
"large three part nerve in your head that provides sensation" (Trigeminal Neuralgia - Symptoms and Causes - Mayo Clinic, 2022)
It is one of the largest cranial nerves and it is made up of the opthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular nerves

Trigeminal nerve (V)

It suggests that sensory feedback from our facial expressions can affect our mood.

Facial feedback hypothesis

- Chronic inhibition of the facial musculature (symptom of Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia)
- Viral infection, cause paralysis of facial muscles (Bell's palsy)

Impaired facial expression

The auditory nerve serves as the pathway that transmits neural impulses from the enlarged hair cells directly to the brain.

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