The brain and spinal cord form the central nervous system . The peripheral nervous system links the central nervous system with the body's sense receptors, muscles, and glands. The sensory and motor neurons carrying this information are bundled into the electrical cables we know as nerves. The Brain Histology of the Peripheral Nervous System Sensory neurons send information from the body's tissues and sensory organs inward to the brain and spinal cord. Interneurons of the brain and spinal cord process the information.
Motor neurons carry outgoing information from the central nervous system to the body's tissues.
The skeletal nervous system of the peripheral nervous system controls the voluntary movements of our skeletal muscles. The autonomic nervous system of the peripheral nervous system is a dual self-regulating system that influences the glands and muscles of our internal organs. The Visible Human Project Reflexes, our automatic responses to stimuli, illustrate the spinal cord's work. A simple reflex pathway is composed of a single sensory neuron and a single motor neuron, which often communicate through an interneuron. For example, when our fingers touch a hot stove, information from the skin receptors travels inward via a sensory neuron to a spinal cord interneuron, which sends a signal outward to the arm muscles via a motor neuron.