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 ...
Ah, yes...DP the unruly child who hasn’t learned to play well with others and runs with scissors. I know his type. ;o])
He’s just not good at amusing himself in a non-disruptive way ... much like his son Tom, who is - praise Thor! - outta here. I love Tom, but his being thrown in with the rest would be a nightmare.
At least it’s not a snowstorm/hurricane/earthquake thing. DP can go outside and run all he wants, or go birdwatching, or pretty much anything outdoors.
The science website even has tests. I guess Julie’s son was taking an online course at Southern Piedmont and just didn’t do the labs.
Science and other challenging things are my nemeses. My brain isn’t big enough to hold all I want to learn, nor is there enough time left. I just want to do and learn all the fun things!
UnDead. First-time visitor
Welcome to the Undead Thread! We’ve happy to have you with us!
:D
Good afternoon! What’s your cat’s name, and what sort is it?
Sounds like a good thing.
D’afternoon.
Thanks
18-month old Tuxedo. Male. Jinglebells II
FIRST one. Black & white face.
<eeyore impression>Does it? Then you must have misunderstood. Not that I'm complaining. My life has its points. I bit down on one yesterday.</eeyore impression>
Aw, super cute! I have two cats. Shannon is a 14-year-old calico with advanced superiority complex, and Jake is a 10-year-old brown tabby with delusions of still being a real male.
The Undead Thread is an ongoing social event - 16 years? - where anyone who is pleasant is invited to discuss their daily minutiae or pretty much anything else, in the spirit of all being in this crazy world together, whether we like it or not.
There’s a cat picture each morning, if you’d like to be on the list.
“Apple cider Vinegar “
Haven’t found a use for that yet.
Maybe it will scare off C19?
Strangely I now have a secret desire to know what was in the iced tea.
But do need to know. Is this essential information?
Hmmm. Iced Tea....why ? :)
Evening, Moose07. How is England?
Things are oddly peaceful here. The only time I went outside today was to take James, dba Epic Fail Lawn Service, to buy more gas for the mower.
Good evening TC,
Things are ramping up into a controlled level of stupidity, fuelled by new government “advice”.
Supermarkets are being cleaned out of everything except Fresh veg and Alcohol.
All social events are cancelled for the foreseeable.
Vast swaths of the population are staying off work and hibernating.
Other than that ,all quiet .
It is actually rather nice having the roads all to yourself.
...............................................
We’ve just been advised to avoid unnecessary social contact by Mini Trump.
France is now in total lockdown.
I didn’t mention that the cat spent 48 hours up that tree before we found him. He says it will be at least 4 days before he’s caught up on his sleep.
He claims not to know why he was up there.
Is the fog still eating people or has it decided to hold off some for a bit?
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