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 have all the data BEFORE 7/1/18, after, nada, and the phones are both 2014 vintage.
Best wishes. Maybe Mrs. ArGee could spend part of the week in the city.
You’re welcome.
Back from errands. I’m heating more chicken soup. After that, it might be second naptime.
I’ve lost a credit receipt from the Scout Store. I had it on Monday night. Any ideas?
You got one of those new AI phones. It’s judging you.
You haven't done laundry since then, have you?
If you do your banking online, the details should be there.
I don’t know if any of you read Twitchy, but here’s a thread on having one common age for adulthood across all laws.
I’m leaning toward 45 myself. But only recently am I willing to give those kinds of kids that level of respect.
No, it was a receipt from the store showing an overpayment.
Oh, the old Slippery Jim Di Gris disappearing ink trick.
*tagline*
Good morning. Happy Thursday.
It’s a balmy 17 degrees here.
We had an amazing snow squall blow through yesterday around 5:00. Fortunately, I was not out in it.
I will be staying in the NYC area tonight since I won’t be here next Monday or Tuesday.
Good morning. The missing receipt has been located. DP filed it in the file cabinet. Unnngh.
Morning Kitteh is checking on your health.
Good morning.
How is your grippe today?
While I was waiting, I put up some Nativities. Not all of them, but I need to organize the closet before I can find the rest, but my favorite one, the little one from Peru/Bolivia is in a place of honor!
We men are never so efficient as we are when you wish we wouldn’t be just this time.
For you weather buffs, scroll down in the link and watch a time-lapse of the squall coming through as shot from the Empire State Building.
https://petapixel.com/2019/12/18/watch-timelapse-footage-of-todays-snow-squall-swallowing-up-nyc/
I’m feeling much better today, thank you for asking. Today’s plans include a trip to CP to leave Pat’s paperwork for next semester and a trip to the Post Office to mail Elen’s Christmas present and the library. This evening, there is the Cub Scouts’ Christmas party.
Well, it was in a hanging file ... not the size for our file cabinet or anything, but a hanging file.
I’m sure we’ll have to buy more things eventually.
Very impressive. Is that real-time, or speeded up?
Wowzer! I’ve seen sandstorms like that, and neither one is fun. Except after the fact, in a video taken by a weatherbot! And no pipples were harmed in the making of it.
Thanks for the link!
And Happy Friday Eve! :o])
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