Transduction (physiology)

Principal steps of sensory processing.

In physiology, transduction is the translation of arriving stimulus into an action potential by a sensory receptor. It begins when stimulus changes the membrane potential of a sensory receptor.

A sensory receptor converts the energy in a stimulus into an electrical signal.[1] Receptors are broadly split into two main categories: exteroceptors, which receive external sensory stimuli, and interoceptors, which receive internal sensory stimuli.[2][3]

  1. ^ Lodish, Harvey F. (2000). Molecular cell biology (4th ed.). New York: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-3136-3. OCLC 41266312.
  2. ^ "Definition of EXTEROCEPTOR". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  3. ^ "Definition of INTEROCEPTOR". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2018-03-29.