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 youre 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 ...
I’ll drink to that.
Look! Almost twin Floofs!
Good morning.
I slept in. Probably because I was up at 0120 yesterday so I could try and get the laundry done before 0430. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll be back on track.
Now, I’m just waiting for the bathroom to warm up enough for me to take my shower. Nothing is on the docket for the day except the pain clinic and getting the new laptop up and running.
The rest of the day is mine to write letters... I’m always doing that but I’m always late doing that.
Good morning. Think of yourself as being early for the next batch of letters instead of late for the previous one.
Cold here, just me and cats so far.
Thirty-five degrees, here. Though I won’t be testing that figure for several hours, when it will be much colder. Br-r-r-r! Wind chill of 33. GAH!
At least the bathroom and the water were warm! I think the water heater is electric, so I shouldn’t have to put up with the periodic cold showers that I witnessed in Henderson. ‘
Gonzo is awake but he’s not talking to me.
I need to take a few minutes and read the instructions on how to set up the laptop. An enclosed note said it was an “upgrade” from what I ordered. It doesn’t look like its ever been used. (I don’t trust my memory to set it up without help. CFIDS does that to me.)
It’s about the same temperature here. I’m so cold that my muscles and joints are aching, and I want to get in bed with Jake and Dad’s Kitty and cry for a long time.
However, that is not in my job description, so I’ll turn on a Spanish Christian music video and soldier on, even though I can’t feel my feet.
Recently I mentioned to Mrs. ArGee that I was thinking of retiring to someplace that occasionally got solidified globull warming but was mostly warmer. She went off on how much she wanted to have 4 seasons but probably not as cold as upstate New York where she grew up.
38 years married and there are still surprises.
The upshot being, it’s not about where the in-laws want to live. And I don’t think cake will be the required draw.
Although if it’s chocolate, that works for me.
When I do that I hear really stupid stuff like, "Do worms sleep?" So I'm better off listening to music.
Great! I missed Tuesday!
Happy belated Tuesday and happy Wednesday.
We make all kinds of cake!
Fluffy.... *hug* Boy, do I know that feeling! All of those feelings. or unfeelings, when it comes to feet.
I’m waiting for a Brown Bat, and then I’ll put it with my purple kitteh from NJ. Good snugglers together, I think!
The new laptop is up and in use, though I really do NOT like are the *security* I had to agree to. I don’t want a password to log on with, I don’t want to find it if it gets lost because I won’t be traveling with it. I have the little purple one for that.
I will change my browser ASAP!
There are four seasons here, but I was happy with two: Summer and Christmas.
Good luck in your search for the right climate, because I certainly understand not wanting so much cold. Or should I say “such a deep cold?”
Chocolate cures most things, as the Harry Potter movies prove! :o]
The Little Brown Bat will arrive when it does. I don’t recall where she’s ordering from, but it’s not coming by ship from Okinawa.
There is no hurry on the Little Brown Bat. It’s wings are very large and they may get tired!!!
I’ve been working on this since early AM and went to the pain clinic with BP a little too high to suit me, but still.
It took a while to figure out how to get my background photo installed, but it’s done, so I’m a happy person, now.
And now, I’m taking a break because. The most important things are in the Favorites file and I can add more, later.
Meanwhile, the wind is straight out of the north, and was working very hard to push my little truck off the road, both to and from the appointment.
I also think I’ve figured out how to get the truck washed in spite of the fact that the weatherstrip isn’t sound. I’m going to try to take it to the car wash this payday and test my theory. I hate a dirty vehicle!
I’m back from an Outing with some Young Parties. Now I’m going to work on ... something. Jake suggests a nap.
I’ve worn my little self out, this day. I’m thinking I’m not out of the woods on this chest cold-thingy that is trying so hard to knock me out. Now I’m just icky achy and about ready to go down the hall.
It’s really annoying to have to listen to the wind and the plastic flapping with the gusts. But I guess its better to hear it than feel the draft from the vent.
I’ve been online exactly 40 minutes. The WiFi was down again. For as much as I’m paying, I’m really getting disgusted at the on-again, off-again service.
What an awful thing to wake up to! No access to the world! Since they only have the self check stations open, now, and my cart was full, I had to ask Dennette (?) to check me out and I went and got another cart so I could just pack it with the bags she filled. What a loathesome thing those self-check kiosks are for People With Disabilities. (PWDs in ADA jargon.)
Anyway, my day has started, somewhat. I still need to get gas and laundry money, but I didn’t want to mess with it at 0330. I have an errand to run later so maybe I can do it then.
Good morning again! Maybe it will get better when the sun comes up. I’m cleaning up in the far end of the kitchen: we’re going to move a lizard cage.
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