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 ...
Cool! Thanks for stopping in. I hope you’re having a nice weekend.
It’s always toast with that obsessed toaster.
I slept 10 hours. Now I’m going over to was clothes. At least it will be “warm” when I walk to the laundry room — 44°. Toasty! *ahem*
Later —
Ann Wilson still has the pipes.
She probably stopped smoking before she wrecked her voice.
What a Floofy Squee!
Good morning.
The laundry is done, as is my trip to Walmart, and now I need to sit and take a mess off my feet. I realized, as I was making some tea, that I have been on my feet almost since I got out of bed. Unngh.
I went to put the laundry stuff away and the bag I use for the detergent, puzzle books, stain remover, etc., seemed awfully flat. Yep. It was. While I was washing clothes, I went to wipe the detergent off the container (I use a quart plastic jug instead of the heavy container its sold in) and got side-tracked, leaving it on the back of the toilet in the community room. *sheesh*
Anyway, it’s all put away, and the laundry is hanging to dry, so the bulk of the day’s work is done. Maybe I’ll get a card in the mail. Or not. Since mail isn’t going today.
Oh, yes. One of my nephews and his wife have gone on a 55-day cruise, picking the ship up in Singapore. I can’t decide if they have a death wish or unusually strong immune systems, but it seems like something not so well thought out.
Maybe they got a super-good deal on the trip.
I’m getting ready for a trip to the library. Tomorrow morning, terribly early, Drama Queen and I will be heading off to Florida.
He was in real estate, so he probably got discounts. They’ve only recently returned from a two-week visit to Antarctica. All I can do is keep them in my prayers.
Ah. Tomorrow terribly early? Say hi to Old Tax Lady for me! I hope she’s improving. Will you be there long?
Hello, everyone. Happy Monday.
You’re not off for this holiday?
Happy Monday, anyway!
We expect to return Friday night.
Happy Monday. You get only one!
As the late Igor would say, “A change is as good as a rest!”
I hope you have a very nice time. ;o]
No, I’m actually working. It’s a city holiday, but not a holiday for my company.
I hope so, too. I’m looking forward to a few days with no boys!
I bet you are!
And FL is supposed to be sunny, isn’t it?
Ah. Win some, lose some. Though traffic shouldn’t be too much of a problem today.
Actually, you get about five thousand of them, if you're lucky and long-lived. Betcha thought it was more than that, didn'tcha?
Not sure: I need to check the forecast.
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.