Final answer:
The thalamus is responsible for relaying sensory information, apart from smell, to the cerebral cortex, serving as a clearinghouse and attention-modulator for sensory data.
Step-by-step explanation:
The area of the forebrain that relays sensory information (except for smell) to the cerebral cortex is known as the thalamus. The thalamus acts as a central relay station for the brain. Most of our sensory data are channeled through the thalamus before these signals are transmitted to different regions of the brain for further processing. Because the thalamus plays a crucial role in this process, it can be considered a clearinghouse for sensory information (with the sole exception of olfactory, or smell-related, signals). It also processes the incoming information to determine what stimuli are significant, which affects attention.