Emotional facial expression and perioral motor functions of the human auditory cortex

• Published in: Clinical neurophysiology Vol. 163; pp. 102 - 111
• Main Authors: Arya, Ravindra, Ervin, Brian, Greiner, Hansel M., Buroker, Jason, Byars, Anna W., Tenney, Jeffrey R., Arthur, Todd M., Fong, Susan L., Lin, Nan, Frink, Clayton, Rozhkov, Leonid, Scholle, Craig, Skoch, Jesse, Leach, James L., Mangano, Francesco T., Glauser, Tracy A., Hickok, Gregory, Holland, Katherine D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.07.2024
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Auditory Cortex - physiology; Drug-resistant epilepsy; Electric Stimulation; Electroencephalography; Emotions - physiology; Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology; Facial Expression; Female; Functional brain mapping; Heschl's gyrus; High-gamma modulation; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Stereo EEG; Transverse temporal gyrus; Young Adult; Functional brain mapping; Transverse temporal gyrus; Drug-resistant epilepsy; Stereo EEG; Heschl's gyrus; High-gamma modulation
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.04.017

•Stimulation within auditory cortex produced facial expressions and perioral motor responses in approximately one-third of patients.•Cortical sites with motor and language responses within transverse temporal gyrus and adjacent cortex (TGG+) showed different yet overlapping neurophysiologic characteristics.•TTG+ likely participates in non-verbal responses to low-level auditory and/or emotional cues during a communicative discourse. We investigated the role of transverse temporal gyrus and adjacent cortex (TTG+) in facial expressions and perioral movements. In 31 patients undergoing stereo-electroencephalography monitoring, we describe behavioral responses elicited by electrical stimulation within the TTG+. Task-induced high-gamma modulation (HGM), auditory evoked responses, and resting-state connectivity were used to investigate the cortical sites having different types of responses on electrical stimulation. Changes in facial expressions and perioral movements were elicited on electrical stimulation within TTG+ in 9 (29%) and 10 (32%) patients, respectively, in addition to the more common language responses (naming interruptions, auditory hallucinations, paraphasic errors). All functional sites showed auditory task induced HGM and evoked responses validating their location within the auditory cortex, however, motor sites showed lower peak amplitudes and longer peak latencies compared to language sites. Significant first-degree connections for motor sites included precentral, anterior cingulate, parahippocampal, and anterior insular gyri, whereas those for language sites included posterior superior temporal, posterior middle temporal, inferior frontal, supramarginal, and angular gyri. Multimodal data suggests that TTG+ may participate in auditory-motor integration. TTG+ likely participates in facial expressions in response to emotional cues during an auditory discourse.