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There's a good chance you hallucinated this week without ever knowing it
Inverse ^ | October 11, 2019 | By Jack Barton on

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 ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: dontreadthetag; dopamine; hallucinations; hearingvoices; jayaubreyjones; koalaoil; laurel; molassesmaiasma; monkeyfacerules; pangolin; penguinhumor; psychosis; schizophrenia; undeadthread; undeadthreadhere; unghandmoose; yanni; yannilaurel; yourbrainondrugs
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To: Silentgypsy

They are cute. Cuter than a plush tarantula.


2,281 posted on 01/09/2020 5:34:16 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Tax-chick

My F-I-L won’t help out at Church any more (Russian Orthodox). He’s caught ushers stealing from the offering, among other things. He’s decided he’d rather not know what kinds of people call themselves Christian when he goes to Church.

He might be glad to know not everyone has that experience.


2,282 posted on 01/09/2020 6:10:39 AM PST by ArGee (Excellence or diversity? Ask for diversity, you get diversity. Ask for excellence, you get both.)
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To: ArGee

Either I keep finding myself surrounded by very decent people, or I’m completely clueless.


2,283 posted on 01/09/2020 9:50:11 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Tax-chick; ArGee; LibreOuMort; Silentgypsy

Well, of all things...

Unbeknownst to me, the truck has been in 4-WD since before I got it, I think.

Looks like the accident was a blessing in disguise. I would never have known, otherwise.


2,284 posted on 01/09/2020 10:11:20 AM PST by Monkey Face (A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.)
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To: Monkey Face

That will help your mileage!


2,285 posted on 01/09/2020 11:07:33 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Tax-chick

Indeed, and I felt the difference in the throttle as well! He also said there is one valve that is leaky, but since I don’t spend a lot of time driving at high speeds, I don’t need to worry about it. Since its a $1500 job, you BET I won’t worry! LOL! Not gonna happen!


2,286 posted on 01/09/2020 11:20:25 AM PST by Monkey Face (A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.)
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That was fun.
Getting fuel for the car and the guy on the other side of the pump dumps about a gallon of gas on the ground.
“I have a crack in the tank.”
??!!

Doc appointment later today.
Yay.
Let’s see if this one can figure out what is wrong with my lungs.


2,287 posted on 01/10/2020 1:44:25 AM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Darksheare

Best wishes with the lungs, Darks.


2,288 posted on 01/10/2020 2:18:09 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: ArGee; fanfan; ColdOne; Cyber Liberty; null and void; Tax-chick; Anoreth; Monkey Face; ...

2,289 posted on 01/10/2020 2:19:11 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Tax-chick

Thank you.


2,290 posted on 01/10/2020 3:17:41 AM PST by Silentgypsy (Call an addiction hotline and say you're hooked on phonics.)
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To: Silentgypsy

You’re welcome. Good morning!

We have Envirothon all day today: Current Environmental Issues class in the morning, and Moon and Mars Mapping in the afternoon. The latter is just a “fun for science nerds” event, rather than a factor in their competition.


2,291 posted on 01/10/2020 3:50:56 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Darksheare
Let’s see if this one can figure out what is wrong with my lungs.

I don't keep up as well as I could with weekend conversations. I pray it's nothing more than breathing U.S. air.

Of course, that's bad enough.

2,292 posted on 01/10/2020 4:22:27 AM PST by ArGee (Excellence or diversity? Ask for diversity, you get diversity. Ask for excellence, you get both.)
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To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face; NicknamedBob; null and void; no-to-illegals; Silentgypsy; ColdOne; ...

Happy Friday!

We done made it through another week.

And after several marathon meetings we have the replan nearly ready for the executive review on Monday.

Now to get the part I used to be responsible for back on track.


2,293 posted on 01/10/2020 4:23:46 AM PST by ArGee (Excellence or diversity? Ask for diversity, you get diversity. Ask for excellence, you get both.)
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To: Darksheare

Prayers up that it’s easily fixable.


2,294 posted on 01/10/2020 5:11:34 AM PST by Silentgypsy (Call an addiction hotline and say you're hooked on phonics.)
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To: Tax-chick

Do they address the climate change stuff?


2,295 posted on 01/10/2020 5:12:40 AM PST by Silentgypsy (Call an addiction hotline and say you're hooked on phonics.)
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To: ArGee; Tax-chick; Monkey Face; NoCmpromiz; Darksheare; NicknamedBob; no-to-illegals; Covenantor; ...

Hey, y’all.


2,296 posted on 01/10/2020 5:13:56 AM PST by Silentgypsy (Call an addiction hotline and say you're hooked on phonics.)
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To: Silentgypsy

How-DEEEE!


2,297 posted on 01/10/2020 5:52:21 AM PST by ArGee (Excellence or diversity? Ask for diversity, you get diversity. Ask for excellence, you get both.)
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To: Tax-chick; ArGee; Darksheare; Silentgypsy; NicknamedBob; All

The hockey game was like nothing I ever expected. I would never have gone to something like that without my son and his wife as escorts and guides.

The sound level in the T-Mobile Arena was something from a spaceship take-off. I think I understand the reason, but its too convoluted to post now. Maybe later. At any rate, the Vegas fans had to be walked through their responses. Not at all like hockey fans in other venues.

The good thing about driving home at 0315 from Bloomington (40 miles from Carol and Roy’s) is that there was no traffic and all the lights were green. I out-witted “Greta Goober” and didn’t get myself lost, but it added to my time by about seven minutes.


2,298 posted on 01/10/2020 7:45:41 AM PST by Monkey Face (A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.)
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To: Silentgypsy

There are a few items in the current events, but not a lot.


2,299 posted on 01/10/2020 9:53:24 AM PST by Tax-chick (Make yourself useful. And don't die!)
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To: Tax-chick

Appointment got cancelled on me.
Grrr!


2,300 posted on 01/10/2020 11:47:01 AM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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