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 ...
‘Morning ‘Face.
What’s shaking?
Nothing, here is shaking, Nully. Did you have a small earth quake in your neck of the woods?
5.7 at Magna, just west of SLC. felt over a goodly fraction of the state
Ah. I missed it. In Henderson, my apartment was on a cement slab and I felt all the quakes the West had to offer. Here, my apartment is over a crawl space and I don’t get to feel much of anything.
Magna is on the way to Wendover, anyway, so most of the northern part of the state would feel it. I kinda miss feeling the occasional tremor. ;o]
Afternoon. We finished the lecture on minerals. Pat is supposed to be writing up the study notes, but he’s in no rush.
Bugging out. Good for you. Wise move.
Maple leaf service sounds like: “The Canadian Express Non Stop.
Parachutes available for all those not going through to Toronto.”
I’m guessing the cat has moved on by now..... :D
Domestic duties called. Ventured out into the Ghost town. Havn’t seen town that dead since the chemical leak in 2011. It was only Jayes fluid but it was pungent...apparently. Activated Carbon works wonders.
You get used to environmental odors pretty quickly.
The cat got sunbeam time in his bed this morning, for the first time in quite a while. I went out after lunch to look at my wisteria. It’s just starting to bud. In about a week, if the weather stays warm, it will be clear which branches are dead, and then I can prune it.
After checking the wisteria, I spend a while pulling weeds from the vegetable gardens. There’s still a lot more to do, but it’s a start.
Fortunately, it is a train.
It is no longer going to Toronto as President Trump has agreed with the Canadian government to halt all non-essential border crossings. So it stopped at the U.S. side of Niagara Falls.
I was going to say something about how glad I am that I’m not writing about what President Clinton is doing about the Coronavirus but the thought gave me a serious case of the willies.
Serious.
Wisteria is one of my favourites. Huge clumps of blue flowers.
Not due out here until May.
The Magnolia trees have flowered this week. My favourite is in Oxford CIty, won’t be seeing it this year....grrrr. Ancient thing located by Radcliffe Camera.
Next door has attacked our front grass, nice of him. I say attacked: He’s Russian, looks like a T34 pulled a sythe across it. But not complaining ‘tis cut.
I wonder what’s Russian for Epic Fail Lawn Service.
Any earthquakes yet today? Vlad is using Lego instructions on my PC. He bought a set that made a shark or a squid or, if you go to the website, a whale.
The Fail and epic concept may not be easy to explain.
Even if the site looks like bykanor (sp?) after an explosion if the task is completed it is not a fail.
The afternoon we changed the Radiator in his car ... Let’s just say it was like time travel. Scarred for life . LOL!
From here I can see 4000 on the horizon.
A few years ago, I replaced a radiator in my daughter's car. Not too long afterward, the car developed a leak.
My wife said, "I guess we'll have to get another radiator."
I said, "Why would you think that?"
"Because that's what it was the last time it leaked."
O-o-kay-y-y
So anyway, after we replaced the water pump, everything was all right for a while.
Thanks—I’ll have to look for that. I budget for very good bread the way others budget for fancy Belgian pastries. We haven’t been out of the house for a couple of weeks. Nothing to do with Covid-19—going out is such a chore that we only leave home for physician, dentist, vet and supermarket trips, and those no more frequently than every seven days.
Hey, y’all.
Ah yes ,the water pump. It’s always the water pump.
Even when it isn’t.
(Long story)
In under 4000?
Good Evening SG,
I trust the world is behaving itself in your presence.
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