sensory neuron

:  a neuron that transmits nerve impulses from a sense organ towards the central nervous system The activity of a neuron—whether it's a sensory neuron receiving information from the outside world or an interneuron integrating it or a motor neuron provoking muscles into action—is not so much a step-by-step series of events as a kind of symphony of rising and falling cellular activities …—Stephen S. Hall, Science 85, May 1985 In mammals, olfactory sensory neurons … are located within the olfactory epithelium of the nasal cavity—Peter Mombaerts, Science, 22 Oct. 1999—compare interneuron, motor neuron