What are the two divisions of the peripheral nervous system?

• A. Sensory division and motor division
• B. Autonomic division and somatic division
• C. Central division and peripheral division
• D. Brain and spinal cord

Answer: (A)

The peripheral nervous system is everything outside the brain and spinal cord and is organized into two main pathways: sensory and motor. The sensory division collects information from receptors and carries it toward the central nervous system, providing input about the body's environment and internal state. The motor division transmits commands from the CNS to muscles and glands, producing action. Within the motor division, there are subcategories for voluntary control (somatic) and involuntary control (autonomic), with the autonomic further dividing into sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. However, when naming the two divisions of the PNS as a whole, sensory and motor best describe the primary split. The other options either refer to parts of the motor division or to the central nervous system rather than to the two broad divisions of the PNS.