A student wrote the following summary about the coordination of the body's homeostatic response to a cold environment:

"When a person is exposed to a cold environment, peripheral thermoreceptors in the epidermis of the skin detect the decrease in ambient temperature. These receptors send nerve impulses along motor neurones to the pituitary gland, which acts as the primary thermoregulatory centre. In response, the brain sends nerve impulses to cause vasoconstriction: the skeletal muscle in the walls of arterioles supplying the skin surface contracts, narrowing the lumen to reduce blood flow near the skin. At the same time, the adrenal medulla is stimulated to secrete thyroxine to increase the basal metabolic rate. Furthermore, rapid involuntary contraction and relaxation of smooth muscles, known as shivering, occurs to generate metabolic heat."