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 ...
Nope not on my desk which is now finished. Not in the bathroom or the bedroom or even under or in the birdcage.
In the car? It’s not in mine. Wow.
Poltergeists.
Good morning. I slept until a bird started singing outside.
What a bright-eyed little floof!
Good morning.
After the desk was assembled, we went to lunch at a place called Lonny Boys, and it was really a disappointment. Its supposed to be BBQ, but since my Favorite Son lives in the South, he knows BBQ, and what we had wasn’t. I won’t go there again. Two eateries down, a dozen to go.
From there, we went across the street to the theater, and watched “Midway” and I’m here to tell you, if you haven’t seen it, GO! I think I held my breath through half of it, and cried through the rest of it. What a movie. There were a couple of clips that I recognized from WWII “official” War Department movies of planes crashing on carriers. They were cleaned up digitally and you couldn’t tell they were anything but part of the movie. There were one or two parts that were slightly “bogus” but I give the movie a AA Thumb’s Up.
Then I followed him into St George, as they are at McCarran as we speak, getting ready to fly back home. All in all it was an amazing few days, and I had a lot of fun with my son. His wife even said, “I love you, Mommie!” She calls her step-mother “Carol,” not “Mom.” What an honor! She’s come a long way!
I found my way at night, through two traffic circles to River Road, which is the only road I know in St George, thanks to Greta Goober, and from there to home. (Google Maps)
So I now don’t have enough gas to get to St George next Sunday for my great-niece’s Farewell, but I’ll worry about that later.
I slept until 0440, and now I have to go jump in the shower. I’ve lost 2-1/2 of my most productive hours and I almost feel in a panic. “Sleeping in” does that to me! GAH!!
We’ll see to it that you have adequate gas! I’ve already run the vacuum this morning. Now I’m going to cook some eggs, because I’m out of yogurt.
Thanks!
Tuesday is Beaker’s Nose-Job Day, and I have to say the little wuzzers are really settling down. Once in a while, Gonzo will get a little spooked and flap around for a few seconds, but he settles down in a hurry. For that, I’m very happy!
I have some yogurt I’ll be happy to share with you, but I’m out of rice pudding for the first time in ages.
Sharon came by while Favorite Son was assembling the desk, and had to literally look up to him! He was very gracious to her. She brought us each a bowl of soup, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her we were going to lunch. So I have food for two days. I think I will freeze it, for now. Her purpose for coming was to ask if I would make something for the Christmas Tree Festival to raise money for some charity. I forgot the name, already!
I know she will have a zillion questions to ask me.
I feel surprisingly good this morning, but long about Wednesday, this weekend will begin to catch up with me. I’ll try to hold it off until next week, but... If it hits, it hits. I’ve learned I can avoid it.
That is so catty!
Just do the best you can for yourself for the next few days, and what will be, will be.
DP keeps proposing things we could go off and do.
Off to church, now.
See ya when I get back!
Thank you.
I got back and there was no one here... *sigh*
Such is life. :o|
What a sweet little Floof!
Good morning.
The laundry is done except for hanging it up, which I was just about to do, and then thought I’d check to see if anyone else was up and online. Yay! You is!
Today I’ll begin to clean the mess off my table and get all the electronical stuff transferred from one place to another. Maybe by tomorrow, I will be able to unpack the big box that’s in my way!!
Maybe I’ll be almost done with this place. I hope.
Good morning. Things are in motion here, fwiw.
Good morning.
All shall be Monday, and all shall be Monday, and all manner of thing shall be Monday.”
With apologies to Lady Julian of Norwich.
I’m in a little early so I can leave for NJ a little earlier this evening. The office is closed for Veteran’s day but not my consulting group.
Well, by definition you'll be done with that place when you're ready to move to the next. We hoomans never really finish with a place, we just stop.
On that note, everyone seems to think we're selling this place since we put so much effort into making it nice for us to live in. Go figger.
The clothes are now hanging to dry and after a few more minutes of resting my back, I’ll get up and scrape off the stickers from the desk pieces with a single-edge razor, and will then add the shelves. At that point, I can begin getting it set up.
It will necessitate being off-line while I get it all set up where I want it, but that’s fine. It’s only temporary. ;o]
My question then would be: "Why would we move back in, lock, stock and barrel if we only want to fix it up nice for someone else?" Some days, people just don't think.
Yes I seem to have inherited my dad's wanderlust.
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