Module 27: Cranial Nerve Review
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
- List the names and locations of the 12 cranial nerves.
- Describe the general pathway and principal functions of each cranial nerve.
- List which cranial nerves carry autonomic fibers and identify the ganglia associated with those cranial nerves.
- Describe the effects of autonomic innervation on various effectors in the head and neck.
Terms to Know
|
Cranial Nerves
*Covered only in lecture, not in this text |
Neural Modalities
Autonomics of Head and Neck
|
The assignment for this module will review all information from the posted cranial nerve slides and this eReader module. The cranial nerves will be covered throughout this unit, but students should begin studying this information early, as it serves as foundational information for the unit. This module and class will review information that you have learned about the cranial nerves, and highlight a few important points that were not mentioned elsewhere in this unit.
Neural Modalities
This information is reviewed in the Brain Part I lecture.
A neural modality is the type of information carried in a nerve. We will discuss five neural modalities that are carried in cranial nerves. Some carry just one, while others carry all five modalities. You should know which modalities originate and are carried in each cranial nerve. (Note: we only discuss resident modalities, meaning modalities that originate in a given cranial nerve. Some cranial nerves pick up fibers with other modalities from other cranial nerves along their path, but you are not responsible for knowing that information.)
- General somatic sensory: Sense of touch, proprioception, pain, and temperature
- General somatic motor: Conscious motor innervation of skeletal muscles. ***You may see special motor on some slides. Special motor fibers also innervate skeletal muscles, but they develop in a different way. We will group special motor with somatic motor in this course.
- General visceral sensory: Unconscious sensation from our visceral structures (e.g. organs, glands, blood vessels, monitoring blood oxygen content, etc.)
- General visceral motor: Unconscious motor innervation to cardiac or smooth muscle and glands
- Special sensory: vision, audition (hearing), taste, vestibulation, and smell
Cranial Nerves Review
This section will provide a brief review of the cranial nerves. This is covered in the lecture slides, and some of it is also reviewed in lecture.
The cranial nerves are primarily responsible for the sensory and motor functions of the head and neck (except for thoracic and abdominal organs innervated by the vagus nerve). There are twelve cranial nerves, which are designated CN I through CN XII for “Cranial Nerve,” using Roman numerals. CN I is associated with the telencephalon, and CN II is associated with the diencephalon. The other ten cranial nerves originate from the brainstem.
CN I: Olfactory Nerve
- Modality
- Special