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 ...
By the way, the brace was the best idea, yesterday. It dissuaded a lot of people. One of the guys who sits in front of me, Sharon and her hubby drilled his hand last week. I don’t know how it happened but it was bad enough to need five stitches. I could see he was in a lot of pain yesterday!
Good Monday to you, too!
I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with things that you’re grateful for! I know mine will be, and even though I don’t have a lot, the fact that I recall my homeless days makes me grateful for the little I do have, and the generosity of friends and other Strangers. ;o])
My brain seems to be wired to remember good things. Mrs. ArGee’s brain seems to be wired to remember bad things. She’ll tell me a Story and I’ll say, “I don’t remember that.” Then she’ll say, “Tell me one good thing about our time together in PA,” and I’ll tell her.
Darn, the poor fellow!
I’m back from taking Pat to school. It’s less cold out than it was earlier.
I think being able to recall both good and bad makes me grateful for all I have and empathetic to those who have less.
Being homeless was good because I had my son with me. Being homeless was bad because I had my son with me. :o])
I think this week is going to be strange. The weather foreguessers say snow and rain, but not together. I say good because then we’d have snain.
;o]
Nope, not this week. Though, in the past, I did hallucinate. I had the thought for a few fleeting seconds that Hillary Clinton would face justice for her crimes. Then reality set in.
I don’t want any snain, thanks.
re: “There’s a good chance you hallucinated this week without ever knowing it”
You should try losing eyesight for a while; lights at night cause the imagination to run absolutely wild. I thought on a number of occasions a year and a half back that I was on an avenue in Boston lined with pubs judging from what my mind was telling about what it thought were lit tavern signs along the street ....
See? I didn’t want any snain either so instead, I’ve been watching DVDs. Epic Fail Lawn Destruction and Sprinkler Head Decapitation showed up with their Cover Your Ears Blower crew and have been making my life miserable since 0730.
I just can’t seem to get them away from my doormat. They are also expert at blowing dust all over the truck. GAH!!!
What about Raow?
Sounds like something a kitteh might foreguess.
Go tell them you need them to do a better job at clearing your doormat. That should keep them from coming within 50 feet of your doormat from here on out.
This is the doormat that Charlie gave me, which he made while in rehab, waiting for his knees to heal enough so he could use them again. (A car hit him and his friend as they were crossing the road in a crosswalk, and broke both of Charlie’s knees and one of the other guy’s.) It’s one of those that look like pieces of tire tread. (Rubber stuff.)
The first time the “Lawn Service” came after I moved in, they managed to lose one of the little “wedges” (for lack of a better term.) They keep blowing it around the stoop and I’ve told Chuck about the loss of the piece, and that I don’t want them on my stoop. Period. I don’t think I’ll ever find that piece again. Maybe I should bring it in and worry about whether the door can shut or not... :o|
That’s true. After foreguessing it, he would go to bed.
“I’ll never be like my parents!”
Yes. There’s that one too... ;-)
“I’ll never be like my parents!”
And then she posts a pic of a napping kitteh! LOL!
Good morning.
I slept in again. Maybe its the new norm. Oh no! That shortens my day too much!
I need to go sort my pills and get something in my stomach. The latter can’t be done until the former is. Maybe a nap is in store for me this morning, but its library day. Yipee.
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