
The cranial nerves carry signals from the brain to other parts of the body. The hypoglossal nerve is one such conductor of signals from the brain to the tongue.
The nervous system is an interconnected network for carrying various signals to different parts of our body. The cranial nerves and spinal nerves are two set of nerves that communicate the signals. Spinal nerves are nerves emerging from the spinal cord, and there are 31 pairs of them, while the cranial nerves emerge from the brain and connect various parts of the body, like the eyes, ears, throat, head, neck and trunk. There are 12 pairs of cranial nerves, and the hypoglossal nerve is the twelfth nerve that connects from the brain to below the tongue.