Cranial Nerves
Name the cranial nerves that are sensory ONLY
What is...
CN 1: Olfactory: Sensory
CN 2: Optic
CN 8: Vestibulocochlear
Name the Cranial Nerves that are both Sensory and Motor
What is...
CN 5: Trigeminal
CN 7: Facial
CN 9: Glossopharyngeal
CN 10: Vagus
A patient shows cranial nerve findings on one side of the face and sensory/motor findings on the opposite side of the body. Which location could this likely be in?
What is a common characteristic of a brainstem lesion
Sensory information travels in this direction relative to the brainstem, while motor information travels in this direction.
What is ascending (sensory) and descending (motor)?
Facial weakness from this cranial nerve's dysfunction can affect eating, communication, facial expression, and eye protection.
What is CN VII (Facial)?
These two cranial nerves are primarily responsible for the eye movements involved in looking laterally, and looking down when the eye is turned inward
What are CN VI (Abducens) and CN IV (Trochlear)?
Name the Cranial Nerves that are motor ONLY
What is...
CN 3: Oculomotor
CN 4: Trochlear
CN 6: Abducens
CN 11: Accessory
CN 12: Hypoglossal
Describe bells palsy, include the CN. Ipsilateral or contralateral?
What is a peripheral facial nerve (CN VII) palsy. Weakness/paralysis of muscles on one side, Ipsilateral
CN V, VI, VII, and VIII all connect to this middle region of the brainstem, which also has major communication with the cerebellum.
What is the pons?
While talking to pt's family in OT, they express concerns about speech, they explain they sound muddy, sluggish, or unclear.
What is dysarthria?
These two cranial nerves are both connected to the pons and are both involved in facial function — one carrying facial sensation and controlling chewing, the other controlling facial movement and taste.
What are CN V (Trigeminal) and CN VII (Facial)?
This cranial nerve carries sensory information that can reach the cerebral cortex directly, bypassing this structure that most other sensory information must pass through first. cranial nerve carries sensory information that can reach the cerebral cortex directly, bypassing this structure that most other sensory information must pass through first.
What are the olfactory nerve (CN I) and the thalamus?
A patient has weakness turning their head to one side and difficulty shrugging one shoulder, with some muscle atrophy noted. Which nerve is most likely involved?
What is CN XI (Accessory)?
A patient shows cranial nerve signs on one side of the face but sensory/motor signs on the opposite side of the body.. Why
Likely brainstem lesions because of ipsilateral facial signs (ascending) and contralateral body signs (descending)
Dysfunction of this cranial nerve can affect mobility, fall risk, driving, and community participation, due to its role in balance.
What is CN VIII (Vestibulocochlear)?
These two cranial nerves work together to produce the gag reflex, one carrying the sensory input and the other carrying the motor response.
What are CN IX (Glossopharyngeal) and CN X (Vagus)?
What cranial nerves controls the pupillary light reflex. Which are sensory and motor (or both
What is
CN 2: Optic (Sensory)
CN 3: Oculomotor (Motor)
Explain why damage to the brainstem could also disrupt cerebellar function, even if the cerebellum itself is undamaged.
What is because the cerebellum sends and receives information through connections that pass through the brainstem, so a brainstem lesion can interrupt that communication and affect coordination, posture, balance, and motor planning even with an intact cerebellum?
What are the four D's of brainstem dysfunction, and what do each of them do?
What is Dysphagia (swallowing), Dysarthria (clear speech), Diplopia (double vision), and Dysmetria (inability to perform accurate movements)
A patient in acute care is difficult to arouse and has trouble sustaining attention during a bedside OT session. Which brainstem system is most relevant to consider, and how does it relate to occupational participation?
What is the reticular formation (specifically the ARAS), because arousal and alertness directly influence a patient's ability to attend, respond, learn, and participate in occupation?
What are the 3 cranial nerves of extra ocular movement, what do each of them do.
What is...
Oculomotor CN III: Moves the eye up, down, and medially (controls most extraocular movements including pupil constriction and dilation)
Trochlear CN IV: Controls the superior oblique, moves the eye downward and inward (convergence)
Abducens CN VI: Moves the eye laterally (lateral rectus)
Name the two cranial nerves responsible for the corneal blink reflex, and identify which one carries the sensory input and which one carries the motor response.
What are CN V (Trigeminal), carrying the sensory/afferent input, and CN VII (Facial), carrying the motor/efferent blink response?
A lesion affecting this brainstem region could disrupt cardiovascular control, breathing, eye movements, and swallowing all at once.
What is a medulla lesion
What are the Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) and the descending reticular pathways?
ARAS projects toward the cerebral cortex to support arousal and consciousness, while Descending Reticular Pathways project toward the spinal cord to influence posture, muscle tone, and autonomic regulation.
A deficit in these cranial nerves would most directly threaten safe medication management, driving, and reading due to its role in vision and eye movement.
What are CN II, III, IV, and VI?