A child is calmed by having his back rubbed before he goes to sleep. The soothing touch is sent along the pathway.

Touch is detected by sensory receptors in the skin and carried toward the central nervous system along sensory pathways. The autonomic pathway controls involuntary functions such as heart rate, while the somatic pathway is mainly associated with voluntary skeletal-muscle movement. Therefore, the soothing touch travels along the sensory pathway, choice B.

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