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 ...
the car we had been storing in the wildlands of PA
I had to laugh when I read that.
Many years ago I did a short stint as a truck driver . Pennsylvania, by far , has the highest incidents of cars, appliances, etc in the front yard than any other state.
The hot shower would be nice, but I don’t have time.
No harm, no foul.
Snoozer -> looser.
My fingers all have me.
Or at least they did yesterday.
Perhaps today they won’t put me through the clumsies.
Greetings and solicitations!
Happy Thursday, all.
No coffee stains on my shirt.
No cracks on my phone screen.
Maybe today will be full of only good surprises.
Back from ‘Walmart. Bulky but stabilizing, so it was worth the trip.
The roads are still damp, so seeing the road markers was a job. There wasn’t much traffic, so the drive was pleasurable. Of course, all drives are pleasurable, here, as the scenery changes by the minute, and also by the time of day and the seasons. I never get tired of it.
I’m so glad I moved!! (Well, except for being cheated of four months of summer...)
This was in a garage, but PA is a fairly depressed state.
For all of that, the 2 cities that have money are the liberal ones. The depressed areas in between Philly and Pittsburgh are conservative.
Good morning.
Perhaps the day WILL be full of good surprises!
And look: This is your NY Friday! ;o]
From your keyboard to Thor’s ears!
It’s sunny here. The cats are huddled in the spots where the Beams will hit first.
I’m glad you moved, too. There are much more important things than summer.
Heather at my Weight Watchers meeting has a son-and-family living in Alaska. She said her daughter-in-law texted her and said it was full dark before 4:00 p.m., and we’re still a month from the Winter Solstice!
Exactly! But when I was a really short person living there, I couldn’t understand why it was bedtime if the sun was still up! Some things about Alaska I think I’ll never forget. But then, I was only five when we left, and there was no such thing as “The Lower 48.” It was just, “The US of A.”
My kids try that, “It’s still light!” shtick on me in the summer here. Doesn’t work. Bedtime is when I say it is.
You may think bedtime is when it’s too dark to do anything fun.
You may think bedtime is when you’re too tired to do anything fun.
But bedtime is when I tie you in bed so I can do stuff without you. Now quit squirming.
My daughter had a problem with getting up when it was light when we moved to Olympia. So I got her up and made her stay up and no naps during the day. A couple of days of this and she was more than happy to stay in bed and sleep!
And yes — bedtime is when you say it is!
Ping to #934
;o])
“I’m not tired!”
“I didn’t tell you to be tired. I told you to go to bed.”
*tagline*
When someone tries to ask me if I'm talking to myself I ask them if they can help me settle an argument.
I like arguing with myself. I almost always win.
Yes, Gentlemen, there is a good side to every potentially silly situation. Since I talk to myself periodically, I often use the excuse that I’m just having a conversation to the wisest person in the room. ;o])
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