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 ...
Oh, my.
Thank you.
Read that too fast; looked like you wrote about going to the beach.
Happy New Year, y’all!
That would work. I wouldn’t mind a trip to the beach.
Happy New Year to you, too.
Ah. I see you’re stealing my niece’s favorite memes from FB. Good choice!
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Happy Hogmanay...
You continue to amaze me—I didn’t know you speak Tagalog.
Which is weird because I'm Ukrainian, Norwegian, and oddly Irish... Despite my Mom insisting we were in some part German...
Maraming salamat...
Muchissimas garcia’s!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, UNDEADERS!!!
May all your little ones be trouble!!
;o]
‘Face
Very interesting, DC! I hope your New Year is a good one and that you prosper. Did you ever get your forge built?
“Oil vey!” said the rich heiress from Brooklyn.
How you doin’, Rob’t?
I’ve seen you on a couple of threads, but I was mostly lurking, so I didn’t stop. I hope your Christmas was pleasant and Christmassy.
NO, no.
Got an emergency assignment 16 December for a power plant bearing repair job in New Hampshire. Worked through Christmas (St Ronnie was with her mom, tywo of the three kids and scattered grandkids at home, then to spend 26 through the 15th in San Antonio.) I’m at work today running an oil flush, will be here till 15-20th.
Now THERE’s a celebration idea I can get behind!
Good morning.
And Happy Hangover. To those of your children who are old enough to imbibe, anyway!
I was so wired by the time I got back from St George, it wasn’t funny. Some unexpected company showed up within five minutes and we talked for 90 minutes before my stupidity began to interfere and I had to tell her my brain was shutting down.
It had to be close to 1900 before I was finally able to shut the light off and put the Kindle and my mahjong game down. Then I woke up around 2130 when I heard fireworks, then again at 2230 with more fireworks.
And up again at 0200. My eyes burn. So what’s my choice for this day? Watching movies!! ;o])
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