When a neck/spinal injury is suspected, the jaw thrust technique can be used instead. The main aim of the jaw thrust is to bring the chin forwards without moving the neck. This lifts the tongue from the back of the airway and relieves obstruction. It is worth noting that there are a variety of different jaw thrust techniques used across the world.
That's lower level processing. Higher levels of your brain are also activated to make sense of the sensory information. When you initiate a reflex action, like withdrawing your hand from a hot surface, the first part of the response is initiated at the spinal cord. But, as soon as the information reaches your brain, your motor cortex, cerebellum, frontal cortex, parietal cortex, etc, take over, planning and controlling movement.
The main types of cells that store and process information in the brain are neurons. In the adult, once neurons are lost, they cannot be replaced. The central part of the neuron is the cell body. Small branches that come off the cell body are called dendrites. These dendrites carry information to the cell body. The axon, a large branch, carries information away from the cell body and to the next neuron (see Figure 1).