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 ...
Oooohhh! So much fun! I love books with photos, and cars is right up there with mountains! Excited for Monday!
Confession is good for the soul, but it does no good if there’s nothing to confess. Suffering in silence doesn’t come into the equation at all.
Oh, it depends on what you’re not saying to people to whom you would say it if you hadn’t given up wine until Whenever.
The cars are AMAZING. Mr. Cussler obviously loved each one as if it were the only one. He comes across as an extremely nice man. Just imagine ... someday we’ll be able to go driving with him in those magnificent machines.
Giving up wine is no excuse for not saying what you would say. I mean, “A drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts.” You could always blame it on “Dutch courage” without the Dutch! ;o]
Wouldn’t it be nice to ride in those cars? Igor and I went to one of Harrah’s car museums in Carson City once. It was amazing. The one I want to see is Jay Leno’s. So many museums, so little time.
Well, mine are. And keeping them to myself (and you ;-) makes for a better quarantine experience for all.
Drama Queen is in a towering snit over having to get up this morning and get the room squared away for the new window installation. Aw, darn. Maybe one of her great friends will put her up indefinitely.
Yes, kitteh, I think we’re all shocked that Friday finally made it.
Happy Friday, everyone.
I hear lots of little ones on the conference calls. I don’t know how these parents aren’t going crazy. We’re going to have a nation-wide attack of the loonies before the government finally quits trying to prove it’s doing something useful about COVID-19.
Until the first time she has a snit because things didn't go to her liking.
Oddly enough, there is no difference in my life, pre-quarantine or now. When one has no stamina, and is often beset with symptoms that are best experienced when one is isolated, life becomes a quarantine and the computer is the only way to be "normal."
Happy Friday.
It’s the media’s fault. They are deliberately shutting down the nation with panic so that Bernie or Creepy Joe can swoop in and turn this into a socialist country.
Las Vegas is closing the casinos and even the bus system there is ramping down. There’s no excuse for this. I don’t know of anyone who has been sick, is sick, or knows anyone who is.
As an aside, one of my loonier nieces tried to tell me that socialism wasn’t the reason Venezuela collapsed economically.
Good morning. I’m trying to feel for people who suddenly find themselves with custody of their young children ... I really am.
I’m not finding my life that different, either, except that, with all the activities cancelled, my stress level has declined about 90%, and I’m home for “Jeopardy!” every night.
And, oddly, it's a socialist country that's responsible for this outbreak. Not just that the disease was first communicated to a human there, but because they suppressed information that might have kept this from becoming a pandemic.
Speaking of which, tagline.
At the moment, no.
When it came to his tools dad was kinda tight lipped.
This wouldn’t apply to you, but my F-I-L used to say, “Some people don’t raise children, they just have them.”
And then they go off to work and let their nanny or the government schools raise them.
Happy lunchtime, folks. The window installation is coming right along. “Two more to go!” said a cheerful construction gentleman when I drove up with all the kids.
We went to Hobby Lobby and got potholder loops and a candle.
Then I texted Brenda (from Envirothon) to see if she needed anything, and she said, “AirSoft ammunition,” so we went next door to Academy Sports and got 10,000 rounds for her Extremely Numerous Sons, and then we got lost delivering them ...
but that was okay because we don’t drive around that part of the county very often, and I got four gallons of gas at $1.95/gal, and I told Brenda they could accidentally come by our house and borrow some puzzles and different nerd games if that would save any of the aforementioned sons from a wretched death ...
and maybe they’ll accidentally go hiking with us tomorrow, weather permitting, and Bill the Son is supposed to be over for supper.
Thank your Oldest Son Still At Home for me, please! He’s such a rockin’ dude! (Meant as a compliment from an ol’ lady.)
Sounds like a busy day tomorrow. I still have almost a full tank on the Tracker, but at the rate I’m driving it will evaporate before I can use it.
I have ammo for my pellet gun, but now, I don’t recall where I put the gun... I think the O2 cartridges need to be replaced, though.
Anyway, time for lunch.
Pat said, “You’re welcome,” and then he laughed in that weird way he does, such that one remembers we’ve never been sure he’s our species.
Yeah, it got to be lunch here, too.
Since we didn’t get by the park earlier, that may be our next thing ... and maybe the Used Bread Store.
Good Day to you all.
Hope we are all well.
Have been out for walk in the hills this morning. The wind chill was not far from freezing point. The spring flowers made up for the wind.
Very fine here. The windows are done. I’m going to spread a tarp in the yard and, upon it, clean the dust off the blinds we took down for the window replacement.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.