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 ...
Hey, y’all.
Afternoon. It’s raining again here.
Morning Kitteh sez, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Good morning.
A heart-shaped day is in the offing, if it would ever warm up. Charlie says he’s seeing signs of Spring. *sigh* The best I can do is stand in the warm bathroom and look at something green.
(What a strangely colored coat that Floof is wearing.)
"My mom will put a curse on you!"
And Mom Cat looks perfectly capable of putting a curse on a lot of things. A curse that will last forever!
Shower has been had, and it wore me out. It’s one of those phases, again.
Mostly letter writing is on the docket for today, except for when I have to go to the library and exchange DVDs. Exciting. :o])
We have Envirothon this morning. Aquatics again. Some of the students will give presentations, and then we have Jeopardy and quizzes.
So how long will the Envirothon go on1? Is that an all day event?
It sounds fun, anyway. At least to me! ;o]
Just morning today. Sometimes it’s afternoon, sometimes it’s all day. It depends on what we need to accomplish and the availability of room at the county ag center or the library.
Does Kathleen take part? She strikes me as a small person with a HUGH interest in the sciences.
Kathleen comes to almost all the events because I can’t leave her home by herself, but officially, it’s 5th to 12th grade. By the time she’s in 5th grade, she’ll know everything!
I spy with my little kitteh eye - FRIDAY!
Happy Friday!
Happy Friday to you, ArGee! Don’t die!
On the radio this morning they were announcing the current “real-feel” of about 3 degrees above the foreguessed high.
Temps are plummeting, but at least they aren’t falling on the pedestrians.
Fortunately, death is not in the offing.
But thank you for the positive wish.
It’s a ritual exchange:
“Don’t die!”
“I’ll do what I want!”
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Envirothoning today! You and Kathleen! Which boys go? Vlad, Frank, James and James?
Ah, like the old:
Have a nice day.
Don’t tell me what kind of day to have!
And to you.
I sent Mrs. ArGee some chocolates from Pittman Davis. When she found them yesterday the box was soaked (but the chocolates were not). I checked and they were delivered Wednesday morning ... early ... when she was home.
I sure hope they rang the bell and she was just where she couldn’t hear it or something.
If we weren’t going to move within a month I’d consider a Ring doorbell or similar artifact.
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