通过直接测量这两组区域的单个神经元活动，研究人员发现外侧和内侧皮层面部运动区域编码这两种类型的手势。他们通过特定区域的时间活动模式来做到这一点，在运动开始之前就可以区分出来。他们的研究结果表明，大脑皮层平行向下游投射的区域形成了一个连续的手势编码，从动态到暂时稳定，在交流过程中产生适合社交的运动输出。
据了解，面部动作是灵长类动物的一种基本交流行为，是由许多细小细胞的动态排列产生的。解剖显示，面神经受到多个皮质区域的直接控制，对局灶性病变患者的研究表明，外侧额叶皮质控制自主运动和内侧情绪表达。
附：英文原文
Title: Facial gestures are enacted through a cortical hierarchy of dynamic and stable codes
Author: Geena R. Ianni, Yuriria Vázquez, Adam G. Rouse, Marc H. Schieber, Yifat Prut, Winrich A. Freiwald
Issue&Volume: 2026-01-08
Abstract: Facial gestures are one fundamental set of communicative behaviors in primates, generated through the dynamic arrangement of many fine muscles. Anatomy shows that facial muscles are under direct control from multiple cortical regions, and studies of patients with focal lesions suggest that lateral frontal cortices control voluntary movements and medial emotional expressions. By directly measuring single-neuron activity from both sets of areas, we found that lateral and medial cortical face motor regions encode both types of gestures. They do so through area-specific temporal activity patterns, distinguishable well prior to movement onset. Our results show that cortical regions projecting in parallel downstream form a continuum of gesture coding, from dynamic to temporally stable, to produce socially appropriate motor outputs during communication.
DOI: aea0890
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea0890