Cranial Nerves

XI

Accessory - Your accessory nerve is a motor nerve that controls the muscles in your neck. These muscles allow you to rotate, flex, and extend your neck and shoulders.

VII

Facial Nerve - The 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, and communicating sensations from the outer parts of your ear

IX

Glossopharyngeal - taste and swallow

III

Oculomotor - The oculomotor nerve has two different motor functions: muscle function (eye focus) and pupil response.

V

Trigeminal - The 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.

IV

Trochlear - The trochlear nerve controls your superior oblique muscle. This is the muscle that's responsible for downward, outward, and inward eye movements.

X

Vagus - parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract

VI

Abducens - The abducens nerve controls another muscle that's associated with eye movement, called the lateral rectus muscle. This muscle is involved in outward eye movement. For example, you would use it to look to the side.

XII

Hypoglossal - responsible for the movement of most of the muscles in your tongue

I

Olfactory - The olfactory nerve transmits sensory information to your brain regarding smells that you encounter.

II

Optic Nerve - The optic nerve is the sensory nerve that involves vision.

VIII

Vestibulocochlear - transmits sound and equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear to the brain.