Final answer:
The parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex is responsible for receiving sensory input for touch and body position, located at the top of the head and towards the rear.
Step-by-step explanation:
The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear that receives sensory input for touch and body position is known as the parietal lobe. The parietal lobe is situated immediately behind the frontal lobe and is critical for processing information from the body's senses. It houses the somatosensory cortex, responsible for sensory information like touch, temperature, and pain. Each area of the somatosensory cortex processes sensations from different parts of the body, with body parts that have a larger surface area and more nerves dedicating a larger area of the cortex for sensation processing.
Neurons in the parietal lobe also play roles in speech and reading. Moreover, the parietal lobe handles proprioception, or the sense of how parts of the body are oriented in space. It is differentiated from other lobes like the occipital lobe, which focuses on visual processing, and the temporal lobe, which is involved in auditory processing and memory formation.