Primary sensory areas

The primary sensory areas are the primary cortical regions of the five sensory systems in the brain (taste, olfaction, touch, hearing and vision). Except for the olfactory system, they receive sensory information from thalamic nerve projections. The term "primary" comes from the fact that these cortical areas are the first level in a hierarchy of sensory information processing in the brain. This should not be confused with the function of the primary motor cortex, which is the "last" site in the cortex for processing motor commands.
Though some areas of the human brain that receive primary sensory information remain poorly defined, each of the five sensory modalities has been recognized to relate to specific groups of brain cells that begin to categorize and integrate sensory information.