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 ...
Yes, this library has wonderful bookmarks!! I send you “some,” but I also keep “some,” because I don’t always read a book from cover to cover in a sitting or three. So lots of books around here have bookmarks in them. :o]
What a sweet Morning Floof!
Finally, good morning.
If I had a vaporizer, I think it would be running 24-7 for the duration. I don’t know how it didn’t make it onto the truck. That, a mirror and a pantry cupboard...all of which I needed here.
Everyone in the household uses colorful Washington County Library bookmarks. A Matthews Library employee handed one back to me that I’d returned in a book in which I’d lost interest!
Wow! Soon the entire country will be reading books with Washington County Library bookmarks! Woo-hoo!
:o])
It will do them good, especially the “reading books” part.
DP has taken some group of yutes to church. I took off last week’s nail polish.
I haven’t felt like putting nail polish on for several weeks, now, since right after Christmas. Walmart sells some but it chips easily, so if I want it for Sunday, I have to apply it on Friday or Saturday, or it will look ugly by Sunday.
I feel like I should write some letters or something. Or maybe watch “The Goblet Of Fire.” I could watch “Victoria,” but Harry Potter is already in the DVD player.
On a related note, I copied the instructions for copying the 3T drivers, yesterday, so maybe tomorrow, after the laundry is done, I can do that so I can copy all the stuff over from this laptop to the slave for when the new laptop comes.
Sally had “holographic reflection battleship gray” nail polish. It looked good, but the edges were wearing away. Today’s choir outfit is red, so I’ll put on red.
I have several, but I don’t think I want battleship gray, no matter how popular. We rented a little one bedroom cabin in San Diego that was one of four on the property owned by a chief with five chevrons and the last apartment had battleship gray in the kitchen. No thanks.
Remembering that battleship gray kitchen in the last apartment reminded me of the couple who lived there. Our husbands were on different ships but the same duty sections, so the nights they were gone, we spent at one place or another.
I just looked her up on FB!
It had a bright rainbow glow in the sunshine.
Anoreth has been texting this morning. I don’t think she has anyone else who will listen except Dog ;-). She says she’s thinking of quitting the axe-throwing bar: new management is lousing up people’s hours, making the jobs more annoying, and not increasing anyone’s pay.
When people talk about Millennials’ being poor employees, I bring up the lousy employers they have.
Holographic polishes are pretty cool!
Any time a company sells out to another company or owner, it’s always bad news for the employees. My son has lost at least two jobs that way, the last one being at an exclusive country club in Cabot. He’s always been a hard worker and seldom ever took time off, even for illness.
So I can understand Anoreth not wanting to stay in a job where people aren’t appreciative of the hired help.
She said she has applied to be a census working, which is related to her statistics major, and also to be a tutor/grader in the math department.
If she doesn’t find something, she can come over here for supper more often and take leftovers home!
LOL! I just read your tagline!! :o])
Deep wisdom.
It could also have read “one tiny kitten video.”
Both would work equally well!
Happy Australia Day!
I had to look it up, but Happy Australia Day to you, as well!!
Thank you.
Vlad keeps us informed of Observances around the world, also deaths of “significant” persons such as the former education minister of Odisha and the Secretary of State of Tanzania, 1994-6.
Also, Elen, USMC, said she’ll send you a Little Brown Bat, and someday when you’re feeling well, you can crochet a tchotchke for her.
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