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 ...
Tom’s hair falls about halfway down his very large biceps.
OK. I stand corrected. My hair would have been longer had I not had it cut on Friday. I had probably 4” or more cut off. It was quite a bit.
My hair is already looking frizzy.
Mine is really fine, and it used to be very thick. Not so much, these days! I hope I can change that, though. More fats!
“Ek’rah skabak erg Thrak’Kilrah maks Rag’nith.”
Can’t find any lottery numbers hidden in there, but worth the look.
*tagline*
You have to let them sit on the newspaper to assimilate the lottery numbers.
Good morning, Tax-chick! Your kitten posts are the best way to wake up and get going in the AM. Thank you! — dayglored
Happy Wednesday.
Kitteh chipped a claw.
When driving in the mountains it’s important to notice those yellow “engineered safe speed” signs. These are not speed limit signs, but helpful, informative signs.
The goal is to double the speed.
It appears to be Klingon, although I am not, by any means, an expert in Klingon transliteration.
I would ask if the American people can get any stupider, but I learned a long time ago to avoid questions I don’t want to know the answer to.
Moose, any hope for sanity if I moved to the UK?
Tom thinks like you.
Good morning, dayglored, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the Morning Kitteh.
I believe in starting the day off with something cute.
Not just any old Wednesday, it's Laz's Birthday!
bttt
Morning!
Tom the Son phoned. When I saw his name on the caller ID, I picked up the phone and said, “Please tell me you haven’t had another auto accident!”
He hadn’t. He just wanted some information from a page he’d left in his room when he went to school.
The Paw of Doom!
Hi, y’all.
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