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 ...
Last time I tried to do a jigsaw puzzle the cat puked on it ruining 10-15 pieces of the 1000 piece puzzle I had 3/4’s completed...
Too strong for me... I’d better stick with vodka.
However...
This is an older clock that doesn't have the adjustment in Daylight Savings Time that the POWERS THAT BE decreed to change.
So... It's an hour ahead. Thus, I am a Time Traveler.
Greetings People of the Past. I find your ways quaint...
This is why I stay away... I killed the Undead Thread...
Aw, yuck!
I hope your family is doing well, DC. Ready for winter?
For a bit there, I thought Winter was coming early. Had an early snow... then it melted. Then we had a couple of single digit mornings... but then today was ok...
It's one of those Northern schizophrenic years I guess. A bit like that boxer who dances entirely too much trying to figure out where to hit you...
Oh, I can sympathize. Being equipped with ring-laser gyros instead of cochlear implants and so forth; it's almost as bad as growing old.
Total chaos is at least 18 hours off. Tom the Son is moving out at the end of the year, taking 53% of the chaos with him, and much good may it do him. He’s also taking a couple of boxes of mixed glassware and several coffee mugs, and I said I’d buy him some cooking pots.
We had four children in five years, back in 1996 to 2001, and the youngest will be 18 next month. If we can just clear that batch out, the house will be like empty.
As my late father would say, "That's so Midwestern."
Ring-laser gyros? Don’t you experience frame dragging from the Hall effect? You could end up having Third Grade memories mixed in with Mid-Life crisis...
On second thought... That could be entertaining...
My Eldest under-thing is 16... She’s an AP/honor roll student active in choir and drama. Er... drama over an above being 16 that is.
Boy is 12, 5’2” and 200lbs. Wrestling and video games. Thinking of hauling him to the gym with me... Put some real meat under the squishy bits. Also plays the alto sax and in Scouts working towards his Eagle. I don’t think he’ll make it, but we’ll see.
Youngest daughter is 8. Pink, Turquoise, unicorns, and ukulele.
Marriage is kinda shaky right now... One reason why I’ve been absent... But, all things comes to pass in the fullness of time.
I’ve been East coast, I’ve been West Coast, I’ve even been half way ‘round the world...
Bowling is kinda everywhere...
The Dude abides.
Frank has a similar build at 10 years old; not quite as heavy, but shorter. Kathleen is unicorns.
You and Zon will be in my prayers. DP and I have been married 30 years, and it still isn’t easy.
Wow. Reading all this is kinda sad in a way. Time changes so many things, and I feel blessed, lucky and deprived all at the same time.
I’m sorry your life is so complicated, DC, but I don’t think there was ever a day I doubted your ability to muddle through triumphant.
I have to start hitting the local Trader Joe’s Wannabe and see if they’re stocking the Chocolate Raspberry Cocoa that very few companies can replicate. My comfort drink.
Living alone has benefits, even after I’ve done it for most of my life. But there are times....
My kids have been gone so long I forgot that they were ever short little people who thought I was a goddess (son) and an ogre (daughter) wrapped up in the person who put the best doggone meals on the table! And now, I have two adults who still rely on my calmness to get them through the rough patches. When did that happen? Them growing up and having kids of their own?
See what you have to look forward to?
Morning kitteh feels safe amid the houseplants.
Good morning.
This morning, I realized that it takes me longer to just put my socks on than it does to get the rest of me dressed. It also takes longer to sort my pills than it does to make my bed. Did someone say something about the aging process?
“Getting old is not for the weak,” my mother says.
And good morning. Kitteh will eat the houseplant and then throw up.
I prefer to have a parakeet who mimics the smoke alarm chirp.
Rain is forecast for the next three days, so I need to go put the plastic bag on the driver’s seat so I don’t end up with wet pants when I drive somewhere.
The bottom dropped out of the barometer yesterday, so the forecast was no surprise. Since I’ve been taking those joint meds, the forecast like this doesn’t affect my joints the way it used to. for that I’m very glad!!
It’s cloudy here, but the fog is clearing, which will make driving easier. We’ll leave for Weight Watchers in about an hour.
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