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 ...
You’re welcome. He looks anxious, but I think that’s just his face.
Pretty Floof!
I managed to get some things done this morning, like a shower, a letter to Charlie and another revised budget. The bed is still waiting to be made, but I can do that in a bit.
Yesterday, I watched The Last Episode of “New Tricks” and was a little sad to see it end. The only character that made it through all but the first season was Commander Strickland, played by Anthony Calf. I also watched the last episodes of “Death in Paradise,” and “Father Brown” but I will have to research to see if there are more episodes of those in the works.
Now I need to decide what else I want to order from the library. Or not. My DiL showed me how to work the Roku on Saturday, so I’ll be looking for free movies to fill my hours. When the weather warms up, I may start going for short walks, like up to the Sinclair station. I can buy a chicken tender for $1, and its a good lunch!
The kids and I were at Envirothon all morning. DP went over to Don Manuel’s house to help him with some sort of electronic guitar accessory. Don Manuel is in his 70s and doesn’t bond with electronic thingies very well.
I iz alive and it iz Friday.
Happy Friday.
That may be all I can contribute today.
We’re thinking of your Friday and hope it goes great.
Happy contribution! Have a safe trip to the Wildlands!
We’re doomed!
“Humanity eaten by goo. Film at 11!”
We knew it would end like this.
Someone asked me today where I sit now. I said the correct question isn’t where, but when.
Anyway, have a nice weekend.
LOL!
The hover says:
“This projection does a good job of preserving distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.”
Dang! No wonder we need a wall.
I love maps of all kinds but this one is just such a keeper! LOL!
What a sweet little Floof!!
Good morning.
I’ve been to Wally’s and back, and the gas gauge has hardly moved...
Good morning. Kitteh sez Mew.
My friend Sharon from Cub Scouts told me that she and her 20-year-old son are going to be fostering mother cats and kittens from the Humane Society in Charlotte. She’s been making thematic box-houses for them.
Oh, crikey. I wish I was a neighbor of your friend Sharon!
I woke up to find a very sweet message from my son who is suffering from bronchitis again. (My fault. I grew up in the days when smoking was cool, and no one knew what it would do to a forming fetus.) The message was telling me how much he loved me, which he seldom says. It made my day!
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