It has, however, long been felt that the cranial nerves ought to give evidence of a segmental arrangement as clearly as the spinal before it is possible to speak of a segmentation based upon the ...

The cranial part starts in your medulla oblongata. These parts meet briefly before the spinal part of the nerve moves to supply the muscles of your neck. The cranial part follows the vagus nerve.

The other ten cranial nerves originate in your brainstem, the piece that connects your spinal cord and brain. Keep in mind that these are just the places of origin for the twelve nerves.

The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord. The central nervous system controls thought, movement, and emotion, as well as breathing, heart rate, hormones, and body temperature.

The accessory nerve starts in the brain and separates into spinal and cranial parts. The hypoglossal nerve is a motor nerve that supplies the tongue muscles. It originates in the medulla.