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 ...
“...and, Gladys, I was just saying to Marjorie yesterday....”
I even appreciate the windy, rainy, and overcast (except when it flattens my little town).
That’s specifically what Robert Burns’ “To A Mouse” was about. Best laid plans and all that.
I’m here but I’m on my way out. I’m tired of listening to the wind blow from in here. From whatever reason, its not quite so loud in the bedroom, so that’s where I’m headed.
I hope you all have a good evening!
;o]
Good night and I hope it is!
Thanks!
Three people came up to me and told me my records were here, so I endured my photo being taken for the Directory. *groan*
One person told me I looked “Warm. And stylish.” (Gray knit tunic, black leggings with lace at the ankles, and gray & black heels and shawl.) But it was a good day to wear them, for sure! (Don’t know why I’ve waited...)
It sounds like you looked very elegant. I’m glad people noticed!
Thanks, I think I did, but I cobbled it together from things I’ve been accumulating for several years. The last of which was the leggings — Walmart!! Cheap!
Off to the side and down.
No FReepin'!
Good one!
The morning floof didn’t sleep in!
Good morning.
No laundry for me today. I slept in because I had enough sense at one point in the night, to reset the mattress pad control for the side I was sleeping on. So I’ll just sort the clothes, change the sheets and go through my day as if it were a real day. I knew this was coming.
Life does this when I’m looking elsewhere.
I made it back by Monday Morning (barely).
Happy Monday, everyone.
No, I haven't been moving. That will come in March. I've been trying to explain to people that when your canoe is sinking you don't need to ask Management for permission to bail or to plug the hole.
I’m so glad to know you made it barely!! But wouldn’t it be better (warmer) if you were dressed?
:ducking and running!:
So many questions...so rude to ask them...sorry. I won’t ask. Yet.
Afternoon, ArGee. It is a Monday.
When I got up this morning, a little on the dizzy side, I came through the bedroom door, and smashed into the jamb just above my left elbow. It had almost quit hurting by the time I got to the kitchen, and as I was sorting the clothes, it had completely slipped my mind.
I went in the bathroom to brush my hair and in the mirror, I saw a small spot of blood on my sleeve. Gloriosky, but that’s an ugly-looking piece of work! It’s a bruise about 2” across.
It’s been a while since I did that much damage to myself. A tiny little spot in the middle of it where it broke the skin is where the blood came from. About 1/4” long. Maybe.
Management needs to find meaning in itself. I hope this doesn’t portend a BOHICA moment.
Hey, y’all.
Kitteh was probably engaging vomeronasal apparatus (didn’t look stressed enough for open-mouth breathing), but that darling little face....
All selfies should be of catz.
Give them thumbs and they’ll take pictures of thumbs.
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