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 ...
Kitteh is contemplating pushing the Button of Doom.
Good morning.
I slept in. Eleven hours I racked up. Crikey. I guess I needed it. Maybe I can finally, everlastingly, be recovered from the hockey game and other events surrounding it during the month of January. I still feel a little on the “stretched” side.
The pain clinic sits on top of a ridge, and from there, I could see a road off in the distance to the north, and though there wasn’t a lot of traffic on it, it looked like a nice drive. I found out where it started and the fact that it came past the street my complex is on.
So yesterday, I decided to take it home and avoid construction on State Street, that I miss in the early hours. Yep. It was a nice drive. But I won’t take it again! It has two VERY steep hills causing me to shift into a lower gear to navigate. And I almost missed my turn!
But, it was a nice drive.
For those of you that don’t know this, I thought it was a fun article, though a bit lengthy. Still, enjoy!
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a scenic drive *one time*.
Yes, but that really wasn’t the fun part of the day. The fun part came as I was at the check-out at PetSmart. They asked if my info was in their computers and I said I wasn’t sure, but gave them my phone number. Yep. There I was, with Monkey Face as an email, because it couldn’t be anyone else! But that was at least 15 years ago, in Vegas. Three minutes of fun!
There are a lot of places I want to see, or just drive around and get acquainted with the area, but sometimes, I think I’d rather wait until I move to St George, and get reacquainted with the town. I need to learn to navigate that place all over again.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
I have to leave for the library in bit, but I just thought I’d let you know the birds are getting acquainted. They aren’t snuggling up to the cage bars, or anything like that, yet, but they’re talking. Of course, it could be that Gonzo doesn’t know how any other bird but Beaker talks, so this will be a long process.
Now, I have to go so I can mail a letter on the way to the library.
Later!
I’m glad to hear they’re socializing. I’m sure they’ll figure something out!
Birds are natural socialists. Er... Um... They like to flock together.
OK. I’m leaving... :ducking and running:
As I was making the left turn onto State Street, the intersection was filled with police cars, utility trucks and policemen who were directing traffic. It looks as though this really strong wing blew down at least one arm of the traffic light array on State Street, and need to be replaced. So the police are standing in the middle of the intersection in this bitterly cold wind and directing traffic around the mess.
This is what passes for news in a town of less than 15,000 people. :o])
Ooh, exciting!
ArGee, Bill the Son is asking for advice about the NYC housing market. It looks like he’s serious about a move later in the year.
Do you have any advice for him or know anyone who would?
Communication—an excellent sign.
I’ll be each of them is saying, “I’m a bird, I’m a bird, I’m a bird! You a bird?”
So Darksis suggested the following song for Eva the spiderbot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl91qxRDf98
Ping to Darksis.
The Newbie is trying very hard to get into the flight cage, actually looking for ways to get out of his/her own. *sheesh*
BTTT
My design of the spiderbot was initially intended almost exclusively for non-autonomous robots on the Moon.
It is a mere shell intended to house an operator or long-distance operator, or whatever combination of electronics and computer programming can be harnessed to provide the ability to get things done in a harsh environment
It isn't surprising that more advanced programming and capabilities, and even more advanced functioning, should be brought to bear on what is a relatively simple and basic platform. Spiderbots are meant for doing things in space, or anywhere else the environment is harsh and deadly. I wouldn't want to have faced one in the trenches of World War One, for example.
Legs simply work better in places where there aren't any roads, and gripper assemblies work better on legs in places where there aren't even any places.
The smallish to medium size ones also can be decent emergency medical responders.
Or horrific technoplague monsters under the right bad conditions.
Eva, unfortunately, was the “right bad conditions.”
They were designed as training/cleaning robots, able to get into the air-handling equipment when necessary, but operable initially by a novice robot handler.
Once the novice could operate the miniaturized versions, the new operator could be trusted with the more robust and more capable full-sized spiderbot.
Mostly I concentrated on the mechanical capabilities, leaving the electronics, sensors, computer systems and programming to others.
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