NA1 Explanation of diagrammatic representations:

For the purposes of illustration in this website, a highly simplified template is used to represent major structural landmarks in the brain and spinal cord relevant to the ascending and descending pathways. It is imagined that the brain and spinal cord are viewed from the back towards the front, so that in the diagrams, left and right are the same as for the observer. In most cases the cerebellum is not shown. The somatosensory cortex is coloured blue (as shown above) while the primary motor cortex is coloured red (see 1.2)

The brain and spinal cord have been dissected out and are shown above from a dorsal (posterior) view. An enlargement of the cervical part of the cord shows the spinal roots, dorsal root ganglia, spinal nerve rami (main branches) and the external appearance of the longitudinal dorsal columns of the cord.