Cranial Nerves

Question 1

I

Answer 1

Olfactory Nerve: transmits sensory information to your brain regarding smells that you encounter.

Question 2

II

Answer 2

Optic Nerve: sensory nerve that involves vision.

Question 3

III

Answer 3

Oculomotor Nerve:

Muscle function.Your oculomotor nerve provides motor function to four of the six muscles around your eyes. These muscles help your eyes move and focus on objects.

Pupil response.It also helps to control the size of your pupil as it responds to light.

Question 4

IV

Answer 4

Trochlear Nerve: controls yoursuperior oblique muscle. This is the muscle that’s responsible for downward, outward, and inward eye movements.

Question 5

V

Answer 5

Trigeminal nerve: Has three divisions, which are:

Ophthalmic.The ophthalmic division sends sensory information from the upper part of your face, including your forehead, scalp, and upper eyelids.

Maxillary.This division communicates sensory information from the middle part of your face, including your cheeks, upper lip, and nasal cavity.

Mandibular.The mandibular division has both a sensory and a motor function. It sends sensory information from your ears, lower lip, and chin. It also controls the movement of muscles within your jaw and ear.

Question 6

VI

Answer 6

Abducens Nerve: controls another muscle that’s associated with eye movement, called thelateral rectus muscle. This muscle is involved in outward eye movement. For example, you would use it to look to the side.

Question 7

VII

Answer 7

Facial Nerve: provides both sensory and motor functions, including:

moving muscles used for facial expressions as well as some muscles in your jaw

providing a sense of taste for most of your tongue

supplying glands in your head or neck area, such as salivary glands and tear-producing glands

communicating sensations from the outer parts of your ear

Question 8

VIII

Answer 8

Vestibulocochlear Nerve: has sensory functions involving hearing and balance. It consists of two parts, the cochlear portion and vestibular portion:

Cochlear portion.Specialized cells within your ear detect vibrations from sound based off of the sound’s loudness and pitch. This generates nerve impulses that are transmitted to the cochlear nerve.

Vestibular portion.Another set of special cells in this portion can track both linear and rotational movements of your head. This information is transmitted to the vestibular nerve and used to adjust your balance and equilibrium.

Question 9

IX

Answer 9

Glossopharyngeal Nerve: has both motor and sensory functions, including:

sending sensory information from your sinuses, the back of your throat, parts of your inner ear, and the back part of your tongue

providing a sense of taste for the back part of your tongue

stimulating voluntary movement of a muscle in the back of your throat called the stylopharyngeus

Question 10

X

Answer 10

Vagus Nerve: a very diverse nerve. It has both sensory and motor functions, including:communicating sensation information from your ear canal and parts of your throat

sending sensory information from organs in your chest and trunk, such as your heart and intestines

allowing motor control of muscles in your throat

stimulating the muscles of organs in your chest and trunk, including those that move food through your digestive tract (peristalsis)

providing a sense of taste near the root of your tongue

Out of all of the cranial nerves, the vagus nerve has the longest pathway. It extends from your head all the way into your abdomen. It originates in the part of your brainstem called the medulla.

Question 11

XI

Answer 11

Accessory Nerve: a motor nerve that controls the muscles in your neck. These muscles allow you to rotate, flex, and extend your neck and shoulders.

Question 12

XII

Answer 12

Hypoglossal Nerve