Topic: facial movements

Signals related to self generated movements are broadcast to non-motor brain regions, and can be detected across wide regions of the forebrain in mice. Indeed, it has been observed that, even during the performance of a task, incidental movements, or ‘fidgets’, account for much more variance in neural activity than task-related movements and task-related variables. Some bodily movements or expressions, such as those of the face, reflect biologically significant expressions of internal state, that is, emotions, which have important relationships with ongoing cognitive processes such as decision

Serotonin (5-HT) is implicated in decision-making, such as signaling prediction errors and cue values, as well as to the regulation of behavioral states of wakefulness and arousal, but the relationship between these two domains of function is not well understood. On one hand, serotonin activity is negatively associated with locomotor behavior, which has been seen as behavioral inhibition. On the other hand, serotonin transients are also associated with surprise or uncertainty, as well as novelty responses, including exploration-related facial movements (e.g., whisking, sniffing). Because ther

Noradrenaline (NA) is a ubiquitous neuromodulator largely produced by locus coeruleus (LC) neurons that impacts multiple cognitive processes. Non-invasive methods are used to track LC-NA activity. For instance, pupillometry is shown to be linked to arousal state, LC-NA, and other neuromodulator activity. However, given that pupillometry is a relatively slow process, the extent by which LC-NA can be predicted by pupil is limited. Since movements are linked with increased LC activity, orofacial movements could potentially be used as an additional psychophysiological marker for arousal and LC-N