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 ...
I take it Mrs. ArGee has never been mugged? Not been victim of home invasion? That's good.
Mrs. ArGee managed to stay out of parks after dark except the one the Mayor lives in (and therefore, is heavily guarded).
As for the home invasion thing - so far. And now we live where such doesn’t happen much.
She may need to increase the caliber of her artillery piece.
Excellent! Or take time for more practice.
I just watched the first episode of “Manhunt,” with Martin Clunes (”Doc Martin”) and it was a very tense 45 minutes. It’s based on a true crime story in London, and I really liked it! I decided that one episode was enough because if I watched another, I’d have to watch the third one. Too much nail-biting!!
I’m thinking they must give stupid pain-killers as part of publik eddikashun and collidg eddikashun these days.
Twitchy is reporting that the tag #impeached is trending.
I think that much stupid running around in my brain would cause my head to melt.
I hope everyone is having a frappy Hiday. I hate the new phone already. “I want to send and receive texts,” I said, but texts are not coming through.
Increase caliber and recheck the firing data.
Well..
If you look at many of the photographs of diplomats and politicians you soon realize that this is a true statement..
Sorry about your new phone. My husband gifted me one of the new ones (guaranteed to do everything up to and including a whiter, brighter wash) and the stupid thing tried to sabotage me from the very beginning—we had a relationship firmly rooted in mutual rancor. It stubbornly refused to recognize me as its master (mistress? That just sounds wrong.). I got another flip phone and I’m happy as a clam.
A clam-shell phone should suit a clam.
Mine’s starting to disintegrate.
Clam shell sounds correct. I wonder where the “flip” came from.
My father just was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Crap. Keep us informed.
HAH! The Morning Kitteh looks like my Oddball!!
Good morning.
The kitchen is cleaner, and I found a Nativity and a herald angel as well as a goofy-looking reindeer that hadn’t been packed (I evidently bought the Nativity when it was on sale at JoAnn’s, and got the angel (blue glass with brass trim) from the same lady that I got the table from. I have no clue where the reindeer came from!
The Wite-Out did a good job of covering the worst of the stain, so I have no qualms about wearing the vest tomorrow.
The nasty little Chihuahua was off the leash yesterday and went after the mailman. She wasn’t going to let him get back to his vehicle, and I don’t think her owner knew I was watching the whole thing play out (I was watching for him because Rocky told me she was getting packages.) As soon as she herded Chloe back into the house, I went out and got Rocky’s mail then came in and wrote a note to Chuck about the incident so he has something in writing. UNNGH!
Of course, when I got there, I was handed a piece of paper about my re-certification. So today, I need to take about 30 minutes and print up documentation for the last six months. I hate that intrusion. I should be used to it, but I don’t think I ever will be.
Happy Saturday! It has stopped raining here.
I just realized that the fog is dirt on my glasses.
Willdo.
My father, NoCmpromiz has passed away.
So sorry to hear this, Dark. Condolences to you and your family.
Oh, Darks, I’m so sorry for all of you! And me, too, because he was a good friend and musical companion!
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