Sensory transduction is best described as:

• A. Neural coding of memory
• B. Integration of sensory modalities
• C. Physiological conversion of physicochemical stimuli into neural signals
• D. Generation of motor commands

Answer: (C)

Sensory transduction is the process by which physical or chemical energy from the environment is converted into electrical signals that the nervous system can use. In somatic sensation, receptors for touch, pressure, temperature, and related stimuli respond to their inputs by producing receptor potentials that transform the stimulus into neural activity traveling toward the brain. This physiological conversion is what makes perception possible, providing the brain with neural signals that encode the sensory input. The other ideas—storing memories by neural coding, integrating inputs from different senses, or issuing motor commands—belong to later processing stages or to functions other than the initial conversion of a stimulus into a neural signal.