Sensory neurons, also known as afferent neurons, are neurons in the nervous system, that convert a specific type of stimulus, via their receptors, into action potentials or graded potentials. This process is called sensory transduction. The cell bodies of the sensory neurons are located in the dorsal ganglia of the spinal cord.

The sensory information travels along afferent nerve fibers in a sensory nerve, to the brain via the spinal cord. The stimulus can come from exteroreceptors outside the body, for example those that detect light and sound, or from interoreceptors inside the body, for example those that are responsive to blood pressure or the sense of body position.

 

Note:   The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sensory neuron, which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.