Question

11. For the scenario below, decide which cranial nerves are being used.

Jane smelled fresh baked cookies coming from the kitchen. She didn’t want her mom to know she was having a cookie, so she quietly went into the kitchen and looked around the room for her mom. With her mom not around, she ate a cookie. Then she heard someone say, “Jane, how was the cookie?” Jane turned her head and there was her mom.

• When Jane turned her head and saw her mom what cranial nerve was used to turn her head?

• What cranial nerve did Jane use to smell the fresh baked cookies?

• What cranial nerve did Jane use to see her mom?

• What cranial nerve did Jane use to swallow the cookie?

Answer 1

Question 1

Answer is Accessory nerve(CN XI)

** Sternocleidomastoid is a neck muscle which is used in the rotation of head to opposite side and neck flexion. This is innervated by accessory nerve.

This muscle has attachments on manubrium of sternum, clavicle, and mastoid process of the temporal bone.

Question 2.

Answer is Olfactory nerve (CN I)

Smell is recieved by the olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity. Then the information of smell is transmitted through olfactory nerve to the olfactory cortex in the brain.

Question 3

Answer is Optic nerve (CN II)

Light from the object we want see reaches the retina of eye and it is carried away by optic nerve-->optic chiasma-->optic tract--> lateral geniculate body of thalamus-->optic radiations-->visual cortex.

Question 4

Answer is glossopharyngeal nerve(CN IX)

It innervates the muscles involoved in swallowing. It supplies stylopharyngeus muscle which elevates larynx and expand pharynx.

Swallowing is a complex process. It requires the involvement of many muscles and thus various cranial nerves.

Other cranial nerves involved in swallowing are:

• Trigeminal (CN V)
• Facial (CN VII)
• Vagus (CN X)
• Hypoglossal (CN XII)