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 ...
Snow on the ground and I don’t have to go to Walmart.
Our cats have seen snow so rarely that they have no concept. They’d probably prefer it to the overall wet we have right now.
My cat also has the fluffy cat diva behavior.
Touching her fur means she must bathe again.
Keeping it up, and she’ll bite the air by your hand.
Shannon is like that. If you touch her, she has to have a complete bath.
She’s loving the empty room where Tom moved out. We’ve been too busy to paint and move furniture, yet, so it’s purely Shannon’s room now.
The Domain of Sha’Non.
All hail the mighty Paw.
I was texting with Tom the Son earlier and said, “Jake says to tell you MMmmmRrrrr and claw things.”
Tom said, “I’m on it!”
“On it, fur brother.”
Lol
One footnote: the bumps in the night are probably catz.
Both of your poems remind me of my childhood. When we first moved into the big old house 400 miles north of here, it had two pot-bellied stoves downstairs and one upstairs. One downstairs had a two-burner cook top, and the other one soon found its way to someone else’s ownership.
Since we had moved from Alaska in the summer, we didn’t get natural gas until fall, so that when winter came, the large gas heater in the living room provided the toasty warmth needed to contrast the snow and cold outside, and on the mountains to the east. (The Mountains of my childhood that I have used to gauge all other mountains with!)
The gas flames could be heard so if I knelt by the window I could rest my arms on the low sill and look at the snow and feel the warmth on my back.
If we were lucky, we could hear the Sidewalk Cleaner coming by the bells on the horse’s harness and we could get to the window to see the V-shaped sled go by, the horse prancing in the snow.
So yes, cabins rule!
So thanks, Bob! I love those memories. :o]
Awww...little sleepy newbie Floofs!
Good morning.
I have one more letter to write today before I start on the next round. The never ending letter.
More rain forecast for this week and next, probably from the massive storms up north. I guess it just depends on which jet stream the storms track on. I’m thinking this is typical winter for here.
I probably won’t hear from St George for another month or two but when I do, I’ll call them and see where I am on the list. When my name gets to #10, I’ll start to pack the books!
Progress through life can be slow, but ultimately, some goal is reached.
Good morning. Happy Thorsday! It’s warm again here.
We used to get that “cold-again, warm-again” or its reverse in Henderson, in the fall and the spring, but each warm cycle after January was warmer than the last. I keep expecting that here, but it ain’t happenin’!
In an effort to clean up the small storage pantry, I’m going to recycle the small crates I have that held DVDs and CDs, and use them to hold the smaller items in the pantry. They will then find a new home under the futon/sofa. That way, the smaller items won’t get lost. (As in: I thought for SURE I had a tube of that or a bottle of this or a pack of those.)
Of course, this means I’ll have to have a list, and that means I’ll have to have a clipboard. I used to have a bunch of them but I’ve lost one a move, it seems. The best one was stolen from me by the packers. I lost almost $500 worth of stuff to the packers and the company offered me about 1/6 of the replacement cost. Nope. I countered until I got over $300 of it.
Bill the Cardinal is singing a happy Spring song again. Poor, confused Bill. Bill the Son texted this morning to say he received the Bill the Cardinal tea-towel I sent him last week. Always nice to know Bill the Son is alive!
I often feel that way about my own children!
Thank you. The one on the left is the color of Squeak.
Walmart parking lot ... fresh snow ... Now I have a serious case of the willies.
Of courser, Walmart with a forecast of snow gives me the willies, too. We try to always be prepared to be a few days without the ability to go shopping for this reason.
The best way to spend a Friday Eve!
I wish I could.
Anyway, Happy Thursday and safe time travels to all.
This Friday Eve will once again be spent indoors, but with no hockey game to entertain me. Of course, last week will never be repeated!
I hope your day is a good one, with sunshine for at least part of the day!
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