The brain constantly receives sensory input and integrates the information. The sensory information is relayed from the periphery through lower centers in the brain, and then the information is sent to specific regions of the cerebral cortex where it is processed. For example, the occipital lobe processes visual information while the parietal lobe processes non-visual, sensory information such as cutaneous pain (Fig. 4.1). If you choose to, you can direct your attention to particular bits of sensory information; you can access memories associated with the sensory information; or you can selectively ignore this sensory input.