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 ...
LOL! Thanks! You say the sweetest things, even when you aren’t paid!
Go, VLAD!!!
Wonderful! I wish him the best of luck with whatever prizes they give!
As the late, unlamented Igor used to say, “I’ve got all day to do nuthin’ in and when I’m tired of doin’ nuthin’ I just lay down and take a nap!” (In an Oklahoma twang.)
Sounds just like Jake.
Funny how that relates to both humans and four-legged furries!
We’re all related.
They’re all seeing the same thing.
I think so, too. Spooky.
Yes, we are!
So when we’re all resurrected, will cats have claws? ;o]
Yes. They’ll need to climb things for fun.
That’s what I thought, but I had to ask. It’s Monday, right?
It is Monday all over the universe, except in Asia, where it’s Tuesday.
The wind is blowing again, and its giving me a headache. I was supposed to take the car in tomorrow for the starter, but I have no ride home. And no ride to go back after it. I think I need to change it to Thursday.
I feel like my head is full of dust. And dry leaves.
It rained here again.
Oooohhh, a chimera Morning Floof!! How pretty!
Good morning.
The truck will go into the shop today because even though a tow is free within 100 miles, I don’t want to call for a tow when I’m in St George at a medical appointment. Especially if I have to ride with a stinky tow truck driver, which I’ve done before!
I didn’t sort my pills yesterday because I had to wait for some of them to be delivered, so now, I have to get off my duff and get something to eat and sort the pills for the next week. Unngh.
Good morning! It’s certainly an unusual kitteh.
The local feline overlords here say it’s drizzly outside again.
I hope everything works out with the truck. I took the van for an oil change on Sunday afternoon, and the young man said it didn’t need a change, because it was “synthetic blend,” but he added a quart and put air in the tires.
The BB SUV needs an oil change, but I don’t have the money for it. I buy the high mileage oil, and put in an additive, and if I had Jiffy Lube put all that in, it could cost double what the oil change does when I buy my own supplies.
Maybe next month... No later, because it’ll be a year, then.
Even though I don’t feel like taking the truck down, this morning (I want to nap and do nothing and sit, like Beauty) and tell him tomorrow is a good day for The Tracker Guy to bring it back.
And it looks as though the Newbie is a Camilla, and not Animal, though the latter is really my choice. I will try to put her in with Gonzo, tomorrow. She’s destroying the small cage she’s in and I have to change the water every day because she poops in it. There just isn’t enough room for her antics.
I think Animal can be whatever sex you want it to be!
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