What is the Somatic Nervous System?
The somatic nervous system enervates all sensory organs, including the eyes, ears, tongue, and skin, as well as all the skeletal muscles, and the muscles attached to the bone and used for voluntary movement. In movement, the SNS carries impulses from the brain to the muscle to be moved, while in its sensory capacity, the SNS carries impulses from the sensory organ to the brain. There are therefore two portions, or limbs, of the somatic nervous system, the afferent and the efferent. The afferent, or sensory, neurons carry impulses from sense organs into the central nervous system, while the efferent, or motor, neurons carry impulses from the central nervous system to the muscles. Neurons in the SNS project directly from the brain or spinal cord to the muscle or sense organ. The cell body is located in the central nervous system, and the axon, along which electrochemical impulses travel to or from the cell body, terminates in the muscle, skin, or sense organ. There are no intermediate ce
