Posted on 10/14/2019 10:45:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
In the 1950s, researchers stumbled upon a new class of drugs that provided relief for those suffering from schizophrenia. These drugs were known as antipsychotics and, as the name suggests, they reduced symptoms like hallucinations and delusions — primarily by reducing the levels of dopamine in the brain. This led clinicians and scientists to argue that dopamine was linked to the experiences of psychotic symptoms, and a concerted research effort ensued, seeking to solve the puzzle of why excess dopamine might produce hallucinations.
Although it was later shown that increasing dopamine could produce hallucinations, establishing a consistent link between them, it has not been clear why.
They achieved this by taking advantage of a simple fact: Your brain is lazy. It makes shortcuts to understand the deluge of information that bombards it daily. If you’re presented with consistent information, consistently, your brain adjust its expectations of reality in turn. This is the basis of Bayesian theories of how we perceive the world – that is, the brain makes inferences about the world around us based on statistics and probabilities on what is likely to occur.
[I]ncreasing dopamine made it more difficult for participants to adjust their perception — an effect comparable to how the hallucinators had struggled. Moreover, the extent to which participants struggled was strongly associated with the severity of hallucinations — but not with any diagnosis of schizophrenia. In other words, the difficulty appeared to be associated with a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Using brain imaging, the researchers also showed that an increased capacity for dopamine release, from a part of the brain known as the striatum (an area involved in schizophrenia), was associated with the severity of hallucinations. Together, these experiments showed that excess dopamine was associated with difficulty in accurately predicting reality.
(Excerpt) Read more at inverse.com ...
Hiya, Chode!
I saw you on another thread a while back, but I was in one of my drive-by posting frenzies, and just waved slightly and went on my way...
Amen to that!!
W00t!
LOL!
I ran into that when my kitchen was too cold this spring.
I hope his next attempt is better!
Now I need to go put gas in the truck and get some money for laundry change.
It’s pretty warm today, supposed to be in the upper 50s. The kitchen will get warmer as the day goes by, with the oven on and stuff.
hope all’s well and may God Bless...
They just don't make opportunistic growth organisms the way they used to.
It worked last year.
As I was driving back from my errand, the little drops of things that were hitting my windshield weren’t rain...they were slushy and mostly whitish. Closely resembling — SNOW!
:o])
Could be snain, though.
The non-resident family members have confirmed that they will arrive by 5.
Happy Thanksgiving, FRiends
it’s coming...
Happy Thanksgiving... :-)
Among many other things, I give thanks now every morning for the Morning Kitteh. A wonderful way to start each day.
Got any 1’s?
it’s 35 right now
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! My oldest just turned up with her dog, Dog. The resident kittehs have retired to their secret sleeping spots.
Frank and I did most of a jigsaw puzzle. Now James and Vlad are finishing it, and I need to make the sweet potato pies. Tom’s bread project is smelling indecently good.
O noes! I cooked a hugh pile of sweet potatoes the other day, but it was only enough for one pie! It’s because Tom talked me into getting the extra large graham-cracker crust.
I’ll have to peel extra white potatoes for Bill’s smashed potato-butter bomba. Otherwise Vlad will starve.
On the other hand, Tom had me cut up way too many apples for his apple pies, so he’s going to make applesauce, which Vlad loves.
Howya, Chode! I hope you’re having a very nice day in your cold location. It’s almost 60 here. We have the portable roaster out on the patio table cooking the turkey.
happy Happy HAPPY!!! sounds like a busy day... 8^)
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