human anatomy Human anatomy (gr. ἀνατομία, "dissection", from ἀνά, "up", and τέμνειν, "cut") is primarily the scientific study of the morphology of the human body. Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross ...

, the forehead is an area of the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

bounded by three features, two of the

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

and one of the

scalp The scalp is the area of the head where head hair grows. It is made up of skin, layers of connective and fibrous tissues, and the membrane of the skull. Anatomically, the scalp is part of the epicranium, a collection of structures covering th ...

. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the forehead is marked by the

supraorbital ridge The brow ridge, or supraorbital ridge known as superciliary arch in medicine, is a bony ridge located above the eye sockets of all primates and some other animals. In humans, the Eyebrow, eyebrows are located on their lower margin. Structure The ...

, the bone feature of the skull above the eyes. The two sides of the forehead are marked by the temporal ridge, a bone feature that links the supraorbital ridge to the

coronal suture The coronal suture is a dense, fibrous connective tissue joint that separates the two parietal bones from the frontal bone of the skull. Structure The coronal suture lies between the paired parietal bones and the frontal bone of the skull ...

line and beyond. However, the eyebrows do not form part of the forehead. In ''

Terminologia Anatomica ''Terminologia Anatomica'' (commonly abbreviated TA) is the international standard for human anatomy, human anatomical terminology. It is developed by the Federative International Programme on Anatomical Terminology (FIPAT) a program of the Inter ...

'', ''sinciput'' is given as the Latin equivalent to "forehead" (etymology of ''sinciput'': from ''semi-'' "half" and ''caput'' "head".).

Structure

The bone of the forehead is the

squamous part of the frontal bone The squamous part of the frontal bone is the superior (approximately two thirds) portion when viewed in standard anatomical orientation. There are two surfaces of the squamous part of the frontal bone: the external surface, and the internal surfac ...

. The overlying muscles are the

occipitofrontalis The occipitofrontalis muscle (epicranius muscle) is a muscle which covers parts of the skull. It consists of two parts or bellies: the occipital belly, near the occipital bone, and the frontal belly, near the frontal bone. It is supplied by the ...

procerus The procerus muscle (or pyramidalis nasi) is a small pyramidal muscle in the glabella. It is involved in facial expressions such as frowning and those associated with attentional control, and it indirectly helps shield the eyes from bright light ...

, and

corrugator supercilii The corrugator supercilii muscle is a small, narrow, pyramidal muscle of the face. It arises from the medial end of the superciliary arch; it inserts into the deep surface of the skin of the eyebrow. It draws the eyebrow downward and medially, p ...

muscles, all of which are controlled by the temporal branch of the

facial nerve The facial nerve, also known as the seventh cranial nerve, cranial nerve VII, or simply CN VII, is a cranial nerve that emerges from the pons of the brainstem, controls the muscles of facial expression, and functions in the conveyance of ta ...

. The sensory nerves of the forehead connect to the ophthalmic branch of the

trigeminal nerve In neuroanatomy, the trigeminal nerve (literal translation, lit. ''triplet'' nerve), also known as the fifth cranial nerve, cranial nerve V, or simply CN V, is a cranial nerve responsible for Sense, sensation in the face and motor functions ...

and to the

cervical plexus The cervical plexus is a nerve plexus of the anterior rami of the first (i.e. upper-most) four cervical spinal nerves C1-C4. The cervical plexus provides motor innervation to some muscles of the neck, and the diaphragm; it provides sensory inne ...

, and lie within the subcutaneous fat. The motor nerves of the forehead connect to the

. The ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve, the supraorbital nerve, divides at the orbital rim into two parts in the forehead. One part, the superficial division, runs over the surface of the occipitofrontalis muscle. This provides sensation for the skin of the forehead, and for the front edge of the scalp. The other part, the deep division, runs into the occipitofrontalis muscle and provides frontoparietal sensation. Blood supply to the forehead is via the left and right superorbital, supertrochealar, and anterior branches of the

superficial temporal artery In human anatomy, the superficial temporal artery is a major artery of the head. It arises from the external carotid artery when it splits into the superficial temporal artery and maxillary artery. Its pulse can be felt above the zygomatic ar ...

Function

Expression

The muscles of the forehead help to form

facial expressions Facial expression is the motion and positioning of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. These movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers and are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying ...

. There are four basic motions, which can occur individually or in combination to form different expressions. The occipitofrontalis muscles can raise the

eyebrow An eyebrow is an area of short hairs above each eye that follows the shape of the lower margin of the Supraorbital ridge, brow ridges of some mammals. In humans, eyebrows serve two main functions: first, human communication, communication thro ...

s, either together or individually, forming expressions of surprise and quizzicality. The corrugator supercilii muscles can pull the eyebrows inwards and down, forming a

frown A frown (also known as a scowl) is a facial expression in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness or worry, or less often confusion or concentration. The appearance of a fr ...

. The procerus muscles can pull down the centre portions of the eyebrows.

Wrinkles

The movements of the muscles in the forehead produce characteristic

wrinkle A wrinkle, also known as a rhytid, is a fold, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface, such as on skin or fabric. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of ageing processes such as glycation, habitual sleeping positions, loss of b ...

s in the skin. The occipitofrontalis muscles produce the transverse wrinkles across the width of the forehead, and the corrugator supercilii muscles produce vertical wrinkles between the eyebrows above the nose. The procerus muscles cause the nose to wrinkle.

Society and culture

physiognomy Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...

and

phrenology Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the Human brain, brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific ...

, the shape of the forehead was taken to symbolise intellect and intelligence. "Animals, even the most intelligent of them,", wrote Samuel R. Wells in 1942, "can hardly be said to have any forehead at all, and in natural total idiots it is very diminished".

Pseudo-Aristotle Pseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their works to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others. Such falsely attributed works are known a ...

, in ''

Physiognomica ''Physiognomonics'' (; ) is an Ancient Greek pseudo-Aristotelian treatise on physiognomy attributed to Aristotle (and part of the ''Corpus Aristotelicum''). It is a Peripatetic work, dated to the 4th/3rd century BC. Ancient physiognomy before t ...

'', stated that the forehead is governed by

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. A low and little forehead denoted magnanimity, boldness, and confidence; a fleshy and wrinkle-free forehead, litigiousness, vanity, deceit, and contentiousness; a sharp forehead, weakness and fickleness; a wrinkled forehead, great spirit and wit yet poor fortune; a round forehead, virtue and good understanding; a full large forehead, boldness, malice, boundary issues, and high spirit; and a long high forehead, honesty, weakness, simplicity, and poor fortune. In fighting, slamming one's forehead into one's opponent is termed a

headbutt A headbutt or butt is a targeted strike (attack), strike with the head, typically involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's Skull#Humans, cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Human head and neck Facial features