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 ...
The hawk from yesterday afternoon is back. DP says it’s Cooper’s for sure, not red-shoulders.
She’s sitting at the top of the poplar tree, apparently hoping that James the mourning doves won’t realize she’s a raptor.
Yes, please!!!
Do you wear a hat? I think that would help a lot!
That’s not even a Sears Optical raccoon!
It’s been done. You may now expect a delivery of top-grade cuteness around 5:15 a.m., Eastern Time, most days. (Once in a while, I sleep in on a weekend.)
Wow. I crashed for an hour. I always miss a lot of things when I do that, even though I got up so early.
Maybe now I can concentrate on the construction at hand. I need to make some progress on something or other. Christmas is coming so I might even have a speck of company. Maybe.
Good morning. Lady Hawk went away after - surprise! - finding no prey in the yard, not even James. Maybe she’ll be back in the afternoon, when the light is good for basking. Sunshine helps them conserve energy by maintaining body temperature without burning extra calories.
Have you seen my light-up wooden Merry Christmas sign with the tree on it that I painted, and everyone told me it looks very aboreal? I forget to get it out last year, but I saw it later, so I know it’s here somewhere.
I may have to go up to the attic myself, instead of sending a son.
I’m thinking the guy with the pistol didn’t expect it either, or he’d have brought a Howitzer.
That little handgun isn’t going to stop that giant ant.
Yeah, insects have exoskeletons.
Well, it couldn’t have been with the shower curtain because you said you found that, so maybe in with the blow-up snowman for the front yard?
I got both the arms “done” and will take a break before I work on the stretchers. The good news is that there is a step-by-step video on the website!!! No confusion THIS time!! YES!! BWAHAHAHA! :o])
In about an hour, I’ll head down to the Tracker Guy and get an estimate, then call Jiffy Lube for an estimate on the same thing.
The two cushions that are left will have to wait until the rest of the thing is finished so I’ll have room to do it on the rug. Of course, the next thing will be a set of sheets for it and a mattress pad. I don’t want to ruin the thing with my night sweats!
There is a very large, very thick throw in my closet that I forgot about until I moved here because it was packed for most of three years, remember? Anyway, it should be a perfect fit.
Yes but we didn't know that in the unsophisticated days of the 50's, did we? ;o]
Happy Friday Eve, you.
True dat. We've had a lot more experience with giant ants since then.
Well, the 50’s were a time when the A-bomb skeert the pie-waddin outta folks and that gave birth to Them!, Godzilla, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Lost in Space... Yeah, you know the drill. ;o]
Ah! I must transcribe and translate that into my Spanglish/Spinach notebook in order to continue to amuse and amaze my Spinglich-speaking friends.
Thank you. Prayers that the hawk will glide elsewhere for lunch....
What fun—the lights, the gaiety, the littedness, the pickpockets....
Welp, the stretchers are together, and the support legs are on, and I’m thinking of waiting until tomorrow to attach the stretchers to the arms. I had such horrible back spasms by the time I got done with the little bit I did that I figured I over-did. So they can wait.
I want to get this stuff together so I can get my Nativities out.
The Tracker Guy is in Maine, so I won’t be able to get an estimate about what I need done until next week. Drat.
Good job! The boys have taken all the bench seats out of the van and cleaned it up. Tom and Vlad are going to drive up to the mountains tomorrow to pick up wreaths and Christmas trees for the joint Cub Scouts/Knights of Columbus fund raiser.
On my way back from the Tracker Guy’s shop I saw the most beautiful, HUGH rainbow that I’ve ever seen! I mean it was monstrous! It was really something to see. Worth it going outside for!
I wouldn’t mind having a small tree. If I had the money, I’d get one of the large Norfolk Island pines that Walmart has, as it would be the right size for my little ornaments. Old fashioned glass and also some small straw ones. I also have a corn husk angel that will go on top. But...maybe if I ask Santa “Pretty please?” I can get one.
I think my son was four the last time I had a tree that was hand-picked for us, in the mountains around Payson. Memories...
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