sensory neuron

noun

: 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

In mammals, olfactory sensory neurons … are located within the olfactory epithelium of the nasal cavity

—Peter Mombaerts, Science

compare interneuron, motor neuron