cephalization

(noun)

an evolutionary trend in which the neural and sense organs become centralized at one end (the head) of an animal

Related Terms

Examples of cephalization in the following topics:

  • Neural Responses to Food

    • All three phases of digestive responses to food (the cephalic, gastric, and intestinal stages) are managed through enzymatic neural control.
    • There are three overlapping phases of gastric control: the cephalic phase, the gastric phase, and the intestinal phase.
    • The first phase of ingestion, called the cephalic phase, is controlled by the neural response to the stimulus provided by food.
    • The gastric and salivary secretion in the cephalic phase can also take place at the thought of food.
    • It builds on the stimulation provided during the cephalic phase.

  • Superphylum Lophotrochozoa

    • They also show the beginning of cephalization: the evolution of a concentration of nervous tissues and sensory organs in the head of the organism, which is where it first encounters its environment.

  • Animal Characterization Based on Body Symmetry

    • The evolution of bilateral symmetry and, therefore, the formation of anterior and posterior (head and tail) ends promoted a phenomenon called cephalization, which refers to the collection of an organized nervous system at the animal's anterior end.