A sensory neuron carries information about a stimulus toward the central nervous system. Its input can concern the external world or the body's own state. For example, stretching a muscle spindle changes the activity of a sensory neuron; the resulting action potentials help the spinal cord regulate muscle activity through a reflex.[ref]
Anatomy and Physiology 2e by J. Gordon Betts and others. Sections 12.2, Functional Classification of Neurons; 14.3, Stretch Reflex
Many sensory neurons supplying the body have their soma in a dorsal root ganglion and a branching axon with peripheral and central processes. Thus the soma is not simply an obligatory relay between an input dendrite and an output axon. Other sensory pathways use different arrangements; a sensory function does not specify one universal neuron shape.[ref]
Anatomy and Physiology 2e by J. Gordon Betts and others. Section 13.4, Ganglia
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