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 ...
Watch your back. Obviously, entropy is high.
Not all of them are terrible.
But enough of them are terrific pains in the tailbone to warrant suspicion.
Exactly!! I don’t like it when the skitter and slither when you least expect them to.
That “wug-wug-wubble” noise they make is truly unnerving.
Think about what we call them; “scatter” rugs, “throw” rugs, carpet runners, and “slip” rugs.
Maybe we should pay attention to the words we use.
I saw a woman being interviewed in the eastern Sahara. She had rugs and carpets stuck up on the walls of her tent. Maybe the Middle East has the right idea.
Why? Everything is fine. There's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to be concerned about. Everything's fine.
They’re on the walls because they dangle like relaxing cats.
It’s probably what they want.
What have you done with ArGee?
Everything is fine. There's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to be concerned about. Everything's fine.
Folks, I think ArGee needs a rescue!
This is why it’s important to “check your work” because when you are doing the mundane, you get fatigued, and your brain goes through the motions. At least that is what you believe.
He's only Mondaying; the origin of the expression "mundane".
He'll be alright in a few days. Theoretically Monday only lasts twenty-four hours. In reality every day is Monday, except Friday.
If the grumbling rug is wrapped around you, tap “2” twice.
Everything is fine. There's a2bsolutely nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to be conc2erned about. Everything's fine.
Carpet bombing will fix this....
Reach over with one foot and turn on the vacuum.
This will loosen its hold.
Mmfmmphrow mphmmfmmfrownfies.
(Gasp)OK, I’m free. I got the rug close enough to some brownie crumbs that it let me loose to go grab them.
There’s a danger in the brownies being too good.
Unfortunately, I lost it in my rush to escape.
To be expected. Especially with my brownies and my homemade from scratch chocolate frosting. Decadent!!!
Next time put out the warning sign - WARNING - DO NOT DROP ANY CRUMBS ON ANY RUG.
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