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Week 14 · Module overview

Week 14 — The Peripheral & Autonomic Nervous System

Human Anatomy and Physiology I Free sample edition

Why this matters

A future nurse reading a pulse on a clinic chart and a coach watching a runner's heart rate climb and settle both read this week's two autonomic branches at work.

In plain language

Last week you met the brain and spinal cord, the body's command center; this week you follow the cables that run from it to everything else. Those cables are nerves (bundles of axons outside the brain and spinal cord), and they carry signals in two directions: in from your senses, and out to your muscles and glands. Some outgoing commands are ones you choose, such as lifting a fork; others run on autopilot (automatic control you never have to think about), such as your heart speeding up when a door slams. You will learn to count the nerves, sort their traffic by direction, and name the two branches of the autopilot that push your body in opposite directions. By the end, a racing pulse that settles after a scare will read as a short, ordered story.

  • Already covered: Week 1 built the feedback loop. Week 13 mapped the brain and spinal cord.
  • This week: nerves and ganglia, the nerve counts, afferent and efferent, somatic and autonomic, and the two autonomic branches.
  • How they connect: Week 13's brain and cord decide; this week's nerves carry the orders out.
  • Where we're going next: Week 15 follows three cranial nerves to the senses.

Focus

What carries commands out of the brain and spinal cord, and how do two autonomic branches speed up and slow down one heart?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] count the 12 pairs of cranial and 31 pairs of spinal nerves
  • [ ] sort a signal as afferent or efferent, somatic or autonomic
  • [ ] name the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches and their effects
  • [ ] average heart-rate counts and name the branch behind each move

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 14 (about 45 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Work the tutorial (60–90 minutes) and practice set (20 minutes).
  3. Do the A&P Lab & Inquiry (two hours), the discussion, and the assignment.
  4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: name the branch that speeds the heart and the nerve that slows it back down.

You've got this

Ask your instructor early if you get stuck.

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