For the front and the back of the body, we're going to have 2 sets of terms, and these 2 sets of terms are going to be largely redundant. We're going to focus more on the first set of terms because you're more likely to be tested on it. And at least in this set of the videos going forward, we're going to always try to use that first set of terms just for consistency. The second set of terms, you may be tested on it, but regardless, you probably still just want to know it because they're used commonly enough that you're going to see it sometimes and when you do see it, you're going to want to know what it means.
Alright. So that first set of terms is just anterior and posterior, and anterior just means towards the front, while posterior means towards the back. Now for anterior and posterior, these words are really referring to the way you move. So when you move forward, the part of you that is facing forward, that is your anterior part of the body. And when you move forward, the part of you that is facing backwards, that's your posterior part of the body. So we can use some examples here. Right? The chest is going to be anterior to the back. The back is going to be posterior to the chest. We'll do another one. The nose is anterior to the ear. The ear is posterior to the nose. Remember, all things are relative, compared to something else. So while the ear was posterior to the nose, the ear is anterior to the back of the head. All right.
For that other set of terms, our set of terms are ventral and dorsal. Ventral just means towards the belly, and dorsal means towards the back. But when we're saying back this time, we mean more like towards the spine towards the back of the body. Now in humans, when you walk forward, your belly is facing forward. So anterior and ventral are the same. And likewise, posterior and dorsal are the same if you walk on 2 legs. That's not true for most animals, and that's why we have two sets of terms that end up being redundant in humans. In a dog, the dog is walking on all fours. Its face is facing forward in an anterior direction, but its belly, its ventral side, is facing down towards the ground. So in something that walks on all fours, anterior and ventral are sort of at a 90-degree angle. But if you stand on 2 legs, they face the same way.
Alright. With that, we have an example and some practice problems below. I'll see you there.