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 ...
“That’s a problem!”
Not a thing one wishes to hear from the team in charge of programming and debug.
I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but it seems as if “the right bad conditions” always eventuate fairly promptly.
I'z stuck.
And there is nothing more frustrating that having your sharp-pointy-shiny fings stuck in fabric!
Good morning.
Day 3 of the Newbie Saga. They seem to be having a real interchange this morning, as in, learning each other’s languages and body signals. I want to wait until Monday at least, to name the new critter, because I don’t know it’s sex, yet. S/he’ll be 6 weeks by then and I think that is mature enough for the cere to show its color.
Good morning. I’m glad things seem to be going well on the avian front.
It’s dark here. The cats have lost interest in the outdoors, for now.
I got an email notice that my frogs are here!! I was down to two. YAY!
And now, I’m on my way to Wally’s to pick up some food things.
Enjoy!
Thank you.
You’re welcome. A kitteh improves the day.
I’m back. And forgot my list. :o[
But all is well, because I got everything important that was on that list.
So all is well.
Yes. It is.
Since the death of Beaker, Gonzo has decided that I’m his flock. Even with the Newbie, he screamed when I left for Walmart. *sigh* Hopefully, with time, Gonzo will be over that.
At least he now has someone to talk to.
There is every possibility that they’ll warm up to one another. It’s another call for patience!
I can’t worry about whether or not the birds will warm up to each other. Time is a device for man, because animals don’t need it. So in this situation, we’re on Parakeet Eventual Time. PET. :o]
Pat and I cheated on the last two clues at the bottom right of the WSJ crossword.
Also, it’s Johnny Cash’s birthday.
Blimey! I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who needs an extra “clue” or two! (CFIDS messes with that part of my brain so much!)
So Happy Birthday to the late Johnny Cash. When I was growing up, we got a country-western station from SLC and a “local” station from Provo (20 miles north) that played a little of everything.
Once in a while we got classical music, but not often. I can remember when stereo first came out. We were told to tune our TV to a certain channel and then at a specified time, tune the radio to a certain station and they would do what is now called a simulcast. It was enough to blow my pre-teen mind! (Or was I already a teenager?...)
!
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