Answer
Cranial nerves can be divided into three groups-- sensory, motor, and mixed cranial-- based on the types of fibers ( sensory or motor) that they contain:
Work Step by Step
1. Sensory cranial nerves. This group comprises CN I, CN II , and CN VIII. These nerves have only sensory axons and cell bodies outside of he brain. They are found only in the head, and are associated with the special senses of smell, sight, and hearing.
2. Motor neurons. This group comprises CN III, CN IV, CN VI, and CN XI and CN XII . These nerves include only motor axons as they leave the brain stem. The branchial subgroup serves only skeletal muscles derived from branchial arches. The somatic motor group innervates muscles derived from head somites such as eye ,and tongue muscles, aswell as well as smooth muscles, cardiac muscles, and glands.
3. The Mixed cranial group of nerves comprises CN V, CN VII, CN 1X, and CN X. They have both sensory axons that enter the brainstem, and motor axons that leave the brainstem.
