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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 ...
I enjoy the BabylonBee. They always have a good headline, which entices one to read.
Is it my turn to get the frosting bowl? ;o]
James’s.
Gar tings and irrationalizations
Gratings and salivations
What kind of cake did Vlad make? What will accompany the sausages? Food is so fascinating—can’t figure out why I’m dwindling....
Dittos... Amen...
Gyrations and somnambulance
Nonsense... I am a World Class Muddler. I can muddle with the best of them...
I am looking forward to buying a Tiny House and a Big Plot of Land and telling the world I want nothing to do with it any more. So much the better if it happens to be on another Planet...
We’re at 24 years... Got started late with the kiddos.
We’re fine when we’re out on a date, just the two of us.
... and then we come back to Reality.
It is what it is.
...
Doom and nonsense...
Bacon and cheese....on tofu.
The evil.
The horror.
Only thing worse would be the BooBah theme song on repeat as the victim is forced to ponder bacon cheese and tofu.
Rinse it down with a White Claw or a Xima...
Truly a work of evil!
James’s? You always did like them better than you did me... *pout*
Tofu is something that even bacon can’t make taste like anything but chalk.
Ah, Reality. Without knowing you details, my experience is that if you tough it out, it can get better. Why, we’ll have only six children at home, once Tom the Son leaves for the Real World!
See if you can make one another’s Reality a little better!
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