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 hope you have a good night!
Breath-taking beauty.
Have a grand weekend, y’all.
I hope you do, as well.
It took me 36 hours.
Welcome to the world of motherhood lol.
Perhaps now the reason for my admiration of you will become apparent to others. Every day you do the incredible; you treat it as if it’s no big deal.
You have to admit that the "Cloak of Invisibility" thing is pretty good. Do you think he could start to work on the "water into wine" thing? (Asking for a FRiend.)
Thank you.
Thank you! Pat hasn’t had any success in changing water into anything but dirty water. Maybe when he’s 21 ...
It got quite warm today.
The US will update the system so you can have the permission slip on your smart phone.
So far the water supply is holding up. We have food and (now) some extra TP. Important businesses are staying open.
But I’m wondering why we don’t just focus on our elderly, our young, and those with specific medical conditions and let the rest of life go on.
Oh, yeah, I forgot! Silly me. How will government eliminate civil liberties if they just trust us to look out for ourselves.
Good evening SG,
Hope you also have a good weekend.
Will be signing off in a moment.
Dropping emergency supplies off to HQ (parents) tomorrow...more of an air drop than a landing, can’t take chances.
(Electronic hugs are covered by the UK Govenment Social distancing policy and pose no harm to health)
LOL! Good job! Backatcha, then. {{{hugs}}}
LOL! (leaving out extemporaneous platitudes) {{{hugs}}}
I see how my day is going to go... Not looking forward to it!
Extemporaneous platitudes are available in bulk from Merriam-Webster.
Yes, I’m very familiar with their work. In fact, I have a regular volume and one of medical terms. ;o]
There was a brief moment in my childhood when I thought I would read the large dictionary my dad had, but I think I got to page 10 and gave it up. That volume was over 4” thick. I’d probably still be reading it.
The Floof is contemplating the sunrise.
Good morning.
There are a lot of pieces in that “Lego” set!! I will have to read the instruction manual all the way through before I even start it.
It’s going to be overcast for most of the day, but only about a 30% chance of rain. So if it does rain, it will only be 30% wet. I hope.
Nothing is on the docket for the day except for a dose of Murdoch Mysteries...
Good Morning to US all. Though the panic is prevalent throughout the land. Hey Mr. Custer, there appears to be many a feared Indians down in that valley .....
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.