How to memorize the 12 cranial nerves (and what each one does)

The 12 cranial nerves

The cranial nerves are numbered I to XII with Roman numerals. Most anatomy courses expect each nerve’s name and number, whether it’s sensory, motor or both, and what it does.

Tip: The rule of 4 is a rough guide to the order: four come from above the pons (I to IV), four from the pons (V to VIII) and four from the medulla (IX to XII).

Where each one leaves the skull, and how nurses test it

Anatomy practicals ask where each nerve exits; nursing courses ask how to test it at the bedside. No other page we found puts both next to the functions, so here they are.

Mnemonic: For the trigeminal’s three exits, remember Standing Room Only: Superior orbital fissure (V1), foramen Rotundum (V2), foramen Ovale (V3).

Three neighbors share one hole: IX, X and XI all leave through the jugular foramen.

Two mnemonics: the names, then the types

The names in order. The first letter of each word is the first letter of a nerve:

Only One Of The Two Athletes Felt Very Good, Victorious, And Healthy

Olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, hypoglossal.

Older mnemonics use the old names. The textbook classic “On Old Olympus’ Towering Tops” spells “auditory” for VIII and “spinal accessory” for XI, so its letters don’t match today’s names.

Sensory, motor or both. Each word starts with S (sensory), M (motor) or B (both):

Some Say Marry Money, But My Brother Says Big Brains Matter More

That gives you the 3 sensory, 5 motor and 4 both at a glance. You’ll find cruder versions of both sentences online. A mnemonic only has to be memorable to you, so make your own if you like, as long as the letters stay in order.

A mnemonic gets the order and the types in. It won’t teach you what each nerve does: that’s what the flashcards are for.

The mix-ups everyone makes

IV versus VI: which eye muscle? Remember “LR6, SO4, the rest are 3”. The lateral rectus is supplied by VI (abducens: it abducts the eye outward), the superior oblique by IV (trochlear), and every other eye muscle by III (oculomotor).

V versus VII: feeling versus moving the face. The trigeminal (V) carries feeling from the face and works the chewing muscles. The facial nerve (VII) moves the face: smiling, frowning, closing your eyes.

VII versus IX: which part of the tongue tastes what? The facial nerve (VII) carries taste from the front two-thirds; the glossopharyngeal (IX) carries taste and feeling from the back third. The hypoglossal (XII) only moves the tongue.

IX versus X: both in the throat. Both are mixed, both help you swallow, and both leave through the jugular foramen. The vagus (X) is the one that wanders: it leaves the head to supply the heart, lungs and gut.

XI versus XII. The accessory nerve (XI) works the neck and shoulder muscles you use to turn your head and shrug; the hypoglossal (XII) moves the tongue.

A schedule that makes it stick

Cramming all 12 the night before works for the morning after and not much longer. Spaced practice is one of only two study techniques rated high utility in a major review of study methods (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

One round of practice isn’t enough. When graduate students learned the cranial nerves with spaced retrieval practice, their knowledge improved clearly, but one round wasn’t enough to keep it (Johnson, Michalek and Richels, 2019).

A spaced repetition app does this scheduling for you: cards you get right come back later, cards you miss come back sooner.

If your exam is anatomy and physiology

The cranial nerves are one of the classic memorization loads in A&P, alongside the bones, the muscles and blood flow through the heart. How to study for anatomy and physiology covers the rest, including how lab practicals are run and a deck on blood flow through the heart.

More lists worth memorizing

The same approach works for any fixed list your class tests: group it, find the pattern, then let spaced flashcards do the rest. See how to memorize the 20 amino acids, the polyatomic ions and the unit circle, each with a free deck.