APA Dictionary of Psychology

an area of the cerebral cortex, located in a ridge of the anterior parietal lobe just posterior to the central sulcus, where the first stage of cortical processing of tactile information takes place (see somatosensory area). It receives input from the ventroposterior nuclear complex of the thalamus (see ventroposterior nucleus) and projects to other areas of the parietal cortex. See also secondary somatosensory area.