Central Nervous System
The central nervous system is made up of these two main structures.
What are the brain and spinal cord?
This division of the nervous system includes all nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
What is the peripheral nervous system (PNS)?
Humans have this many pairs of cranial nerves.
What are 12 pairs?
The autonomic nervous system has two main divisions.
What are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems?
This hemisphere is generally associated with spatial awareness, facial recognition, and interpreting visual patterns.
What is the right cerebral hemisphere?
This long bundle of nerve tissue carries messages between the brain and the rest of the body.
What is the spinal cord?
These nerves carry sensory information from the body to the central nervous system.
What are sensory (afferent) nerves?
This cranial nerve is responsible for the sense of smell.
What is the olfactory nerve (CN I)?
This division of the autonomic nervous system prepares the body for "fight or flight."
What is the sympathetic nervous system?
This lobe is primarily responsible for hearing, memory, and language comprehension.
What is the temporal lobe?
This insulating substance surrounds many nerve fibers and speeds up the transmission of nerve impulses.
What is myelin?
These nerves carry commands from the central nervous system to muscles and glands.
What are motor (efferent) nerves?
This cranial nerve provides sensation to the face and controls the muscles used for chewing.
What is the trigeminal nerve (CN V)?
During sympathetic activation, these glands increase secretion to help cool the body.
What are the sweat glands?
This structure connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres, allowing them to communicate.
What is the corpus callosum?
These specialized cells transmit electrical signals throughout the central nervous system.
What are neurons?
This cranial nerve, also known as Cranial Nerve X, helps regulate heart rate, digestion, and breathing.
What is the vagus nerve?
This cranial nerve monitors blood pressure and contributes to taste from the posterior one-third of the tongue.
What is the glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX)?
This is often called the body's "second brain."
What is the enteric nervous system?
The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres responsible for higher thought and conscious processing is called this.
What is the cerebral cortex?
These three layers of protective tissue surround the brain and spinal cord.
What are the meninges?
This rapid, automatic response to a stimulus often involves the spinal cord and peripheral nerves without conscious thought.
What is a reflex arc?
Of the 12 cranial nerves, these three are responsible solely for sensory functions.
What are the olfactory (CN I), optic (CN II), and vestibulocochlear (CN VIII) nerves?
This type of muscle is not directly controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
What is skeletal muscle?
This strip of cortex, located in the frontal lobe, initiates voluntary skeletal muscle movement.
What is the primary motor cortex (precentral gyrus)?