Sensory gating describes neural processes of filtering out redundant or irrelevant stimuli from all possible environmental stimuli reaching the brain. Also referred to as gating or filtering, sensory gating prevents an overload of information in the higher cortical centers of the brain. Sensory gating can also occur in different forms through changes in both perception and sensation, affected by various factors such as "arousal, recent stimulus exposure, and selective attention. Although sensory gating is largely automatic, it also occurs within the context of attention processing as the brain selectively seeks for goal-relevant information. Previous studies have shown a correlation between sensory gating and different cognitive functions, but there is not yet a solid evidence implying that the relationship between sensory gating and cognitive functions are modality-independent. Cocktail party effect The cocktail party effect illustrates how the brain inhibits input from environmental stimuli, while still processing sensory input from the attended stimulus. The cocktail party effect demonstrates sensory gating in hearing, but the other senses also go through the same process protecting primary cortical areas from being overwhelmed. Neural regions involved Information from sensory receptors make their way to the brain through neurons and synapse at the thalamus. The pulvinar nuclei of the thalamus plays a major role in attention, and has a major role in filtering out unnecessary information in regards to sensory gating. In a proven clinical study, it has been found out that the two stimuli (S1 and S2) are transported within 500ms between the clicks and 8 seconds between the pairs, in which S1 is known to generate a trace of memory that lingers presumably in the hippocampal region while the S2 the arrives later to be compared with the first stimuli as it gets inhibited if provided with no new information. (Both S1 and S2 are commonly referred to auditory stimuli caused by the machines used to test sensory gating.) The pulvinar nuclei in the thalamus function as the gatekeeper, deciding which information should be inhibited, and which should be sent to further cortical areas. The CNS (Central Nervous System), after the pulvinar nuclei deems the information to be irrelevant, acts as an essential inhibitory mechanism that prevents the information from flowing into higher cortical centers. Sensory gating is mediated by a network in the brain which involves the auditory cortex (AC), prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, as well as the olfactory cortex, which plays a part in