Central Nervous System–Hindbrain

“Leaving the spinal cord, we enter the first of the brain’s three divisions, the hindbrain. The other two divisions are the midbrain and the forebrain.

“The first part of the hindbrain, the medulla oblongata, is a continuation of the spinal cord. Recall that the spinal cord receives sensory information from the body; this sensory information is relayed through the medulla on its way to the highest area of the brain, the cortex. Additional sensory information first enters the CNS in the medulla. Audition, or the sense of hearing, is perhaps the most important such sensory mechanism.

“Another major function of the spinal cord is the relay of motor impulses from the brain out to the skeletal muscles. These motor impulses originate in the forebrain and pass through the medulla on their way to the spinal cord.”