Final Report to NSF of the Standards for Facial Animation Workshop

The human face is an important and complex communication channel. It is a very familiar and sensitive object of human perception. The facial animation field has increased greatly in the past few years as fast computer graphics workstations have made the modeling and real-time animation of hundreds of thousands of polygons affordable and almost commonplace. Many applications have been developed such as teleconferencing, surgery, information assistance systems, games, and entertainment. To solve these different problems, different approaches for both animation control and modeling have been developed

The influence of orthodontic and orthopaedic therapy on mandibular motion

Orthodontic functional appliances for the correction of Class II malocclusions work by both dental and orthopaedic effects on the mandible. In asymmetrical Class II malocclusions, unilateral appliances can be used to effect correction on the affected side. Very little is known about the effect of functional appliances on mandibular kinematics in general, and to date, no data has been found on the effect of a unilateral functional appliance on mandible movement. Ten subjects were recruited for the study, five in a group with a bilateral fixed FORSUS® fatigue resistant appliance, and five with a unilateral FORSUS appliance. Three participants in the bilateral group were lost to the study, leaving seven participants in total. Where possible, jaw movement recordings were taken pre-treatment, pre-FORSUS appliance placement (ie, after fixed appliances had been placed), pos-FORSUS removal, and post-treatment. Recordings were done using a 12-camera opto-electric Eagle system that monitored movement of the lower jaw relative to the cranium by tracking reflective markers. The mandible markers were mounted on a splint that rigidly fixed to the lower jaw. Participants were requested to do two open-close movements, protrusion movement and both left and right lateral excursion movements. Data were processed using a Butterworth filter and standardized to 100 data points The data were exported to a spreadsheet, where maximum opening, protrusion and for the unilateral group, rotation around the vertical axis was assessed. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to assess the recordings. There was individual variation in the recordings, but results showed that the use of a unilateral FORSUS appliance does not appear to alter either open-close, protrusion or rotation. Assessment of bilateral FORSUS was made difficult with only two participants completing the study, with both showing individual variation on both measures of open-close and protrusion. In this group particularly, treatment effects may have confounded the recordings. The placement of fixed appliances did not influence mandibular kinematics, and there appeared to be little difference between repeat open-close recordings within any particular recording session. In conclusion, the results indicate that a unilateral fixed FORSUS appliance does not alter jaw function either during or post-orthodontic treatment. Further research is indicated with both unilateral and bilateral FORSUS appliances, especially with regards to mandibular kinematic with the appliance in situ

Beyond language: The unspoken sensory-motor representation of the tongue in non-primates, non-human and human primates

The English idiom “on the tip of my tongue” commonly acknowledges that something is known, but it cannot be immediately brought to mind. This phrase accurately describes sensorimotor functions of the tongue, which are fundamental for many tongue-related behaviors (e.g., speech), but often neglected by scientific research. Here, we review a wide range of studies conducted on non-primates, non-human and human primates with the aim of providing a comprehensive description of the cortical representation of the tongue's somatosensory inputs and motor outputs across different phylogenetic domains. First, we summarize how the properties of passive non-noxious mechanical stimuli are encoded in the putative somatosensory tongue area, which has a conserved location in the ventral portion of the somatosensory cortex across mammals. Second, we review how complex self-generated actions involving the tongue are represented in more anterior regions of the putative somato-motor tongue area. Finally, we describe multisensory response properties of the primate and non-primate tongue area by also defining how the cytoarchitecture of this area is affected by experience and deafferentation

Tongue Movements in Feeding and Speech

The position of the tongue relative to the upper and lower jaws is regulated in part by the position of the hyoid bone, which, with the anterior and posterior suprahyoid muscles, controls the angulation and length of the floor of the mouth on which the tongue body \u27rides\u27. The instantaneous shape of the tongue is controlled by the \u27extrinsic muscles \u27 acting in concert with the \u27intrinsic \u27 muscles. Recent anatomical research in non-human mammals has shown that the intrinsic muscles can best be regarded as a \u27laminated segmental system \u27 with tightly packed layers of the \u27transverse\u27, \u27longitudinal\u27, and \u27vertical\u27 muscle fibers. Each segment receives separate innervation from branches of the hypoglosssal nerve. These new anatomical findings are contributing to the development of functional models of the tongue, many based on increasingly refined finite element modeling techniques. They also begin to explain the observed behavior of the jaw-hyoid-tongue complex, or the hyomandibular \u27kinetic chain\u27, in feeding and consecutive speech. Similarly, major efforts, involving many imaging techniques (cinefluorography, ultrasound, electro-palatography, NMRI, and others), have examined the spatial and temporal relationships of the tongue surface in sound production. The feeding literature shows localized tongue-surface change as the process progresses. The speech literature shows extensive change in tongue shape between classes of vowels and consonants. Although there is a fundamental dichotomy between the referential framework and the methodological approach to studies of the orofacial complex in feeding and speech, it is clear that many of the shapes adopted by the tongue in speaking are seen in feeding. It is suggested that the range of shapes used in feeding is the matrix for both behaviors