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 world isn’t safe now.
On the other hand, if cats could fly, birds and bats would be in real trouble.
Was gonna just post the ad, but this link with some ad agency wonkery was too cool...
;>)
Now hear this!
Just in case anyone is curious about how I spend my time outside of FR, there’s this: A “Christmas present” from one of my awesomely talented nieces sent me a crochet pattern for Baby Yoda!
That is all.
‘Face
Please don’t do Baby Jar-Jar.
Thank you.
Thank you.
To rebuild one must first destroy.
Caffeine psychosis wombats would do nicely.
Hey, y’all.
Wow, that was really clever!
My newest G-grandson entered the world about an hour ago. A nice healthy lad of 7 lbs 2 oz, by the name of Peyton Alan James....
That will be it until my youngest grandson and his wife starting blessing us all.
No, I promise not to do Baby Jar-Jar. I don’t even want a pattern of that, thanks.
Congrats!!!
Thanks! At the moment, I have one very bad photo that I can’t enlarge so I can’t tell what he looks like!
Congratulations!
Thanks! I just got another photo, at birth, and it was a C-section, so mom was “out” and dad was not allowed in. Still, the little guy evidently has a good set of lungs on him!!
I’m excited for my grandson (the one who served in Afghanistan) but sad, because this will be the last one for him. His younger brother and his wife just had their third and last one a year ago in February.
Both mothers have health problems that preclude them from having any more babies. :o[
Some is better than none!
Time for me to make myself scarce and close up shop until morning. I’m spinning my wheels here, it seems.
I hope you have a good night!
Congratulations.
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