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 ...
I haven't seen your picture, but I did a poem about cardinals a few years ago.
It's possible the verse may match up with the image. If so, please feel free to combine them in whatever manner suits you.
For some reason, it just popped into my head a couple of days ago. Not sure, therefore the “?”. I figured offering good wishes is better than having the celebration go badly because we didn’t offer the benediction (you can’t be too careful).
Not true!
Because yogurt is so good. But the cats - well they purr all the time. Even at night.
Except when they sleep.
BUT I SAID THAT!
I don’t know what next.
It’s all their fault the damn olives spilled all over the ground.
STOP IT!
No snow in the picture (or in the backyard wildlife sanctuary). It’s a springtime Bill.
Ah. I forget which one went to Elen, USMC (the latter of which, I almost wrote on the envelope!)
I’ll be looking forward to the books, drool and all!
Elen, USMC, will be making a visit next week, if nothing changes, so I will be able to give her the card (and all her misdirected bank and insurance statements, sigh), live and in person.
She just got around to telling us this on Friday night. I think she plans to stay over at Tom’s, since he took the spare bunk with him.
Bill the Cardinal is singing loudly this morning, although the sun isn’t quite up. He likes to sit at the top of the yellow poplar so that his voice will carry.
Morning Kitteh wants to know whatchu doin’?
Good morning.
I was going to respond to the Morning Floof, but I really needed to get into the shower.
Last night was rough, so it was a little later before I fell asleep (stress does that) so I slept in. Or maybe it’s becoming the norm.
Anyway, Happy March 1th!
“And is there meat involved?”
A shower is in my plans, too. It sounds as though someone is astir upstairs.
I think I have a letter to write. Or a journal entry. Or both.
Anyway, I’m almost out of bandages large enough to hold the drawing salve.
Oh, dear.
Kathleen needs a bath before I take a shower.
The shower felt good this morning.
My brain seems to have gone walkabout.
If a see a brain running free, I’ll text you.
That would be good.
I wrote the first sentence and got side-tracked, so it was a while before my second one got written.
We’ve got snow. First time this month...
LOL!
March is usually so much like February, it’s hardly worth turning the page on the calendar.
Still coming down, visibility less than a quarter mile.
I love turning the calendar to the next month.
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