the areas of the brain that process and register incoming sensory information and make possible the conscious awareness of the world
source: WordNet 3.0
The seat of sensation; the nervous center or centers to which impressions from the external world must be conveyed before they can be perceived; the place where external impressions are localized, and transformed into sensations, prior to being reflected to other parts of the organism; hence, the whole nervous system, when animated, so far as it is susceptible of common or special sensations.
