Collection
Cranial nerves
The cranial nerves are twelve paired nerves that arise directly from the brain and brainstem rather than from the spinal cord. They are numbered I to XII in the order they emerge, and between them they carry smell, vision, eye movements, facial sensation and expression, hearing and balance, taste, swallowing, and the parasympathetic supply that the vagus nerve extends into the thorax and abdomen.
All twelve cranial nerves in the AnatoMemory reference are listed below in numerical order. Each card covers the nerve's course, its motor and sensory territory, and the deficits that follow injury.
12 structures
Study guide for this topic: How to memorize the cranial nerves.
Cranial nerves
12Olfactory nerve (CN I)
Receptor axons connecting the nose to the olfactory bulb
NerveOptic nerve (CN II)
Retinal output carried toward the brain
NerveOculomotor nerve (CN III)
Motor and parasympathetic pathways to the eye
NerveTrochlear nerve (CN IV)
A crossed brainstem motor pathway to superior oblique
NerveTrigeminal nerve (CN V)
Three sensory divisions with motor output through V3
NerveAbducens nerve (CN VI)
Motor nerve that turns the eye outward
NerveFacial nerve (CN VII)
One nerve serving expression, taste and secretion
NerveVestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII)
Auditory and vestibular connections with the brainstem
NerveGlossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX)
Sensory, secretory and swallowing pathways of CN IX
NerveVagus nerve (CN X)
Mixed cranial pathways extending into chest and abdomen
NerveAccessory nerve (CN XI)
Motor supply for head turning and shoulder support
NerveHypoglossal nerve (CN XII)
The main cranial motor pathway to the tongue
Nerve