Q 01/05

Brain freeze, the ice-cream headache felt in the forehead, is pain carried by which cranial nerve?

A) Olfactory

B) Trigeminal

C) Facial

D) Hypoglossal

Answer · why

B) Trigeminal

The trigeminal nerve is thought to sense blood vessels in the palate tightening and then swelling after sudden cold, and the brain misreads the pain a...

Q 02/05

The vagus nerve, which reaches from the skull to the colon, is named from a Latin word meaning what?

A) Hidden

B) Twisted

C) Wandering

D) Branching

Answer · why

C) Wandering

Wandering is the literal meaning of the Latin vagus, and the same root gives English the words vagrant, vagabond and vague.

Q 03/05

Which condition, named for a Scottish surgeon, is a sudden one-sided paralysis of the facial nerve?

A) Erb's palsy

B) Horner's syndrome

C) Klumpke's palsy

D) Bell's palsy

Answer · why

D) Bell's palsy

Bell's palsy usually shows as a facial droop that comes on within 72 hours, and most people start to improve within about two weeks.

Q 04/05

The facial nerve controls the stapedius, the smallest skeletal muscle in the body, found where?

A) Upper eyelid

B) Voice box

C) Soft palate

D) Middle ear

Answer · why

D) Middle ear

The middle ear holds the stapedius, which steadies the tiny stapes bone; when it is paralysed, normal sounds seem very loud.

Q 05/05

Excessive vagus nerve activity during emotional stress can cut the heart's output and cause what?

A) Fainting

B) Hiccups

C) Seizures

D) Nosebleeds

Answer · why

A) Fainting

Fainting of this vasovagal kind is typically set off by the sight of blood, pain or long standing, and people come round without any treatment.