Where is the cough reflex triggered?

Question

Where is the cough reflex triggered?

Answer 1

It's right where the lungs meet the branches in both lungs. If you get a cold and drainage trickles down the back of the throat, it will triggers the cough reflex.

Answer 2

The cough reflex has both sensory (afferent) and motor (efferent) pathways. The internal laryngeal nerve, a branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (CN 10), carries the sensory information away from the area above the glottis (a flap of tissue deep in the throat which closes off the airway while you swallow) in the larynx to the central nervous system (CNS) via cranial nerve 10 (vagus).

Stimulation of this area by dust or other foreign particles produces a cough, which is necessary to remove the foreign material from the respiratory tract before it reaches the lungs.

So generally the answer to your question of a trigger site would be in oropharynx, or that area of the throat behind the soft palate or the laryngopharynx, the area of the throat just above the glottis, and behind the tongue.