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There's a good chance you hallucinated this week without ever knowing it
Inverse ^ | October 11, 2019 | By Jack Barton on

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 ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: dontreadthetag; dopamine; hallucinations; hearingvoices; jayaubreyjones; koalaoil; laurel; molassesmaiasma; monkeyfacerules; pangolin; penguinhumor; psychosis; schizophrenia; undeadthread; undeadthreadhere; unghandmoose; yanni; yannilaurel; yourbrainondrugs
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To: Darksheare; Tax-chick
Cold and rainy here

That probably is a better thing. Earlier in the week the expended foreguess was assuring us we'd have 3" of snow today. The radar display does tend to indicate that further up the Hudson River valley they might just be getting some....

501 posted on 11/07/2019 5:33:17 PM PST by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
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To: NoCmpromiz; Tax-chick

The weather agnosticators can keep it!


502 posted on 11/07/2019 6:42:03 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: NoCmpromiz; Darksheare

It’s raining here, now. The cats got wet. It is all my fault.


503 posted on 11/07/2019 7:13:54 PM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: Tax-chick; NoCmpromiz

Cats also believe that we can make it daylight, warm, and dry.
After all we do this indoors, why not outside too?

My cats don’t like birds sitting outside and I must chase them away because those feathered abominations bother kitty sensibilities so badly.


504 posted on 11/07/2019 7:44:06 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Darksheare; Tax-chick; NoCmpromiz
"Cats also believe that we can make it daylight, warm, and dry.
After all we do this indoors, why not outside too?"

I refer you to Robert Heinlein's book "The Door Into Summer", in which we meet a cat living in a house with nine doors to the outside.

On rainy days the cat insisted on checking each and every door, looking for one leading into warm, dry weather.

505 posted on 11/07/2019 7:50:12 PM PST by NicknamedBob (If you can't do something well, you won't do anything good.)
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To: Darksheare

Or, for door-to-door salesepople, “Solicitations”


506 posted on 11/07/2019 8:07:29 PM PST by Silentgypsy (Call an addiction hotline and say you're hooked on phonics.)
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To: Silentgypsy

Solarization!


507 posted on 11/07/2019 8:43:35 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: NicknamedBob; Tax-chick; NoCmpromiz

The NiMH cat would check different doors for warms.


508 posted on 11/07/2019 8:44:32 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Darksheare; NicknamedBob; Tax-chick
And not finding any warms at the door he then would opt for perching on a shoulder where he was assured of a nominal 98.6° heating unit.

Our present herd of cats doesn't have the shoulder-perching activity learned properly.

509 posted on 11/07/2019 9:59:09 PM PST by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
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To: NoCmpromiz; fanfan; ColdOne; Cyber Liberty; null and void; Tax-chick; Anoreth; Monkey Face; ...

510 posted on 11/08/2019 2:35:49 AM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: Tax-chick; moose07; ArGee; NicknamedBob; Darksheare; Silentgypsy; NoCmpromiz

The Floof knows how to spend the time....

Good morning!

The “mystery” has been solved about my son and his “exciting thing.” He refused to tell me anything about it, and wouldn’t even give me a hint. Of course, yesterday was “The Day” it was supposed to happen, and happen it DID!!

He was suspiciously quiet as far as text messages and FB posts for the last two days, and though I wondered, I wasn’t concerned because that’s not unusual with his work schedule.

I went to bed as usual, but not before a migraine caught me. And just about at the same time, my son called. So I told him I had the headache and he was sympathetic, but not too much. While I was talking to him, the doorbell rang. So I complained about it, and he said he’d let me go so I could attend to it. I did.

I opened the door to find my son and his wife on the front stoop! GAH!!!

He didn’t come to see me, although part of it was the birthday party I was invited to for today at Olive Garden. That coincided with the SEMA Show in Vegas, which was the destination of his online friend, Edd China, from “Wheeler Dealers” in GB!

He and his wife actually met up with my son and his wife in Vegas. So for more than a day, they all hung out together. He couldn’t tell me of his plans because it would give away the fact that he would be in Vegas.

I ended up going into St George with them, where we surprised her dad a day early, then went to the country club for dinner. Afterwards, we went to see James and Abbie, and then they brought me home. After four-and-a-half hours of sleep, here I am with my pet migraine. I’m really hoping I can take a nap this morning...

So. The worries about my desk assembly are over. Favorite Son will be here Saturday to help with it. And the bathroom door that is backwards? As luck would have it, it was installed upside down so changing it would be no problem. Good things!

Now I’m going to go shower!


511 posted on 11/08/2019 3:19:13 AM PST by Monkey Face (No amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot. ~~ Mark Twain ~~)
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To: Monkey Face

Wow, I’m so excited for you, and for your son’s great experience with his auto-guru!

(Sorry about the migraine, though - I hope it eases up so you can enjoy your son’s visit to the full!)


512 posted on 11/08/2019 3:27:52 AM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: Tax-chick

Thanks. Migraines and me are old pals, and we live in perfect animosity.

If the headache doesn’t improve during the day, I’ll have to get someone else to come and pick me up, as driving, while possible, would be iffy.

Now, I need to get a few lines written to Charlie so I can get it in the mail this morning. Actually, all I want to do is just curl up like this morning’s Floof, but that won’t be part of the agenda. Duty calls. unngh


513 posted on 11/08/2019 4:06:52 AM PST by Monkey Face (No amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot. ~~ Mark Twain ~~)
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To: Monkey Face

The whole family here is happy for you, too!


514 posted on 11/08/2019 4:19:32 AM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: Tax-chick

Thanks to your whole family there!

From the day he posted on FB that he had two weeks for this “thing” to come about, and from the outset, I thought the thing he couldn’t talk about was that he had won a trip to GB, thanks to Edd China. I just got it wrong in the logistics...he went to Vegas from Arkansas at the same time Edd China was going to Vegas from GB!

I told my son he shouldn’t think so hard because it was a dead giveaway. ;o])


515 posted on 11/08/2019 4:34:29 AM PST by Monkey Face (No amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot. ~~ Mark Twain ~~)
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To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face; NicknamedBob; NoCmpromiz; null and void; no-to-illegals; Silentgypsy; ...

Happy Friday, everyone.

If I were as smart as a kitteh I, too, would spend today curled up somewhere safe and warm.


516 posted on 11/08/2019 4:58:21 AM PST by ArGee (Excellence or diversity? Ask for diversity, you get diversity. Ask for excellence, you get both.)
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To: Monkey Face

LOL!


517 posted on 11/08/2019 5:03:02 AM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: Tax-chick

518 posted on 11/08/2019 5:14:44 AM PST by null and void (Convicted spies are shot, traitors are hanged, saboteurs are subject to summary execution...)
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To: null and void

I love it.


519 posted on 11/08/2019 5:17:23 AM PST by Tax-chick (Tomado de la mano, yo voy con Cristo a donde El va!)
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To: null and void

LOL!!!

Now that’s a shirt I would wear with pride! How funny!

Jack Skellington has nothin’ on this guy!


520 posted on 11/08/2019 5:33:47 AM PST by Monkey Face (No amount of evidence will ever convince an idiot. ~~ Mark Twain ~~)
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