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 ...
Brrrrrr. Not so cold here: just wet.
I stared into the Abby and the Abbess stared back at me...
I’m sure you helped it along...you know — helping hand???
Hiya, Nully!
I keep it away from cats...
Yes...good thinnin’ Baba. I believe there are some cats who believe in biting the hand that feeds them.
How are things in your part of the world?
Still and clear, clear up to your ankles and still cold.
LOL!!
How’s yer mum? And your grandbaby?
Demented and fine, respectively.
Later morning, y’all. I took a shower.
Weird. It sounds like it’s raining but as near as I can tell in the gloom it’s snowing.
We had that Friday afternoon, so when I went to get into the truck yesterday, there was ice on the locks. Today, I’ll be ready for it, and will be prepared to come back in and get some hot water.
It looks gloomy out there...
You have snain!
Too cold for escargot.
The rain has stopped here. Lots of birds and a squirrel are out back at the feeders.
Thank you.
We’re having congealed dihydrogen oxide that alternates between pelletized chunks and fluffy flakes. They are foreguessing that it will continue this pattern into tomorrow. (Notnecessarily)Accu(rate) Weather is showing us in the 6”-12” total accumulation band.
The cats are not pleased. I am hosting 66% of our in/outdoor crew on the couch - a black ‘n white one at the north end on the heated pillow and his grey with white smudge mother at the south end on my jacket. Why that arrangement I don’t know. She knows the heated pillow is there but seems to prefer my jacket. And yells at me if I dare to use it.
Where the gray ‘n white one is I don’t know. Other than the tracking board tells me he is inside.
And the quartet of black cats is here and there. One (or more) will present themself(ves) begging for treats and then wander off. Usually after checking the southern window for the non-existent-today sunbeam.
And they don’t like the big orange truck with the flashy lights and the noisy scrapey thing. It’s scarey.
Maybe 8/10ths of a mile visibility through the large, cold dandruff flakes falling from the sky.
We had about 14 hours of rain, followed by some sun and then high winds. Cats here liked the sun, but only indoors.
I don’t know what is guessed for tonight, but I won’t be out in it. Probably.
OH, fun! Low of 41, my forecast says.
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