Late morning. Tim is mowing the grass and
has used the grass catcher on most of it. You are happy he is willing to do the
job when your hands are not in the best of shape, particularly the palms and
thumbs. Arthritis is the suspect. – Amorella
1045
hours. This can be a bit worrisome – I can feel the muscles aching around the
joints as I type. The fingers and thumb feel heavier than they used to. It may
just be the weather as it is humid. I do have the dehumidifier on even with the
air conditioning and it is set at 74; we usually have it at 75 or 76. The
ceiling fans are on, all but in Kim’s old bedroom and I have the floor fan on
in the living room.
You have spent time chatting with Carol
about various matters – mostly with the hope that things will be fine with Kim
and Paul – but until they move in ‘busyness dealing with the house and moving
and renting’ will be a factor in their everyday lives. Tim has finished with
the yard and has been paid – you are both pleased that they are ‘the best
neighbors ever’ in terms of your friendship and lifestyles. - Amorella
The
point of this research below suggests the brain actually does change with
different uses. Drug induced research shows this. As such you wonder if I, the
Amorella, have altered some aspects of your brain over the last twenty-five
years. Personally, I think not but the personal wondering from it doesn’t hurt
anything as far as I can see. Post. - Amorella
** **
New study discovers biological basis for
magic mushroom 'mind expansion'
New research shows that our brain displays a similar pattern of
activity during dreams as it does during a mind-expanding drug trip.
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms can profoundly alter the way
we experience the world but little is known about what physically happens in
the brain. New research, published in Human Brain Mapping, has examined
the brain effects of the psychedelic chemical in magic mushrooms, called
'psilocybin,' using data from brain scans of volunteers who had been injected
with the drug.
The study found that under psilocybin, activity in the more primitive
brain network linked to emotional thinking became more pronounced, with several
different areas in this network - such as the hippocampus and anterior
cingulate cortex - active at the same time. This pattern of activity is similar
to the pattern observed in people who are dreaming. Conversely, volunteers who
had taken psilocybin had more disjointed and uncoordinated activity in the
brain network that is linked to high-level thinking, including
self-consciousness.
Psychedelic drugs are unique among other psychoactive chemicals in
that users often describe 'expanded consciousness,' including enhanced
associations, vivid imagination and dream-like states. To explore the
biological basis for this experience, researchers analysed brain imaging data
from 15 volunteers who were given psilocybin intravenously while they lay in a
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Volunteers were scanned
under the influence of psilocybin and when they had been injected with a
placebo
"What we have done in this research is begin to identify the
biological basis of the reported mind expansion associated with psychedelic
drugs," said Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris from the Department of Medicine,
Imperial College London. "I was fascinated to see similarities between the
pattern of brain activity in a psychedelic state and the pattern of brain
activity during dream sleep, especially as both involve the primitive areas of
the brain linked to emotions and memory. People often describe taking
psilocybin as producing a dreamlike state and our findings have, for the first
time, provided a physical representation for the experience in the brain."
The new study examined variation in the amplitude of fluctuations in
what is called the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, which tracks
activity levels in the brain. This revealed that activity in important brain
networks linked to high-level thinking in humans becomes unsynchronised and
disorganised under psilocybin. One particular network that was especially
affected plays a central role in the brain, essentially 'holding it all
together', and is linked to our sense of self.
In comparison, activity in the different areas of a more primitive
brain network became more synchronised under the drug, indicating they were
working in a more co-ordinated, 'louder' fashion. The network involves areas of
the hippocampus, associated with memory and emotion, and the anterior cingulate
cortex which is related to states of arousal.
Lead author Dr Enzo Tagliazucchi from Goethe University, Germany said:
"A good way to understand how the brain works is to perturb the system in
a marked and novel way. Psychedelic drugs do precisely this and so are powerful
tools for exploring what happens in the brain when consciousness is profoundly
altered. It is the first time we have used these methods to look at brain
imaging data and it has given some fascinating insight into how psychedelic
drugs expand the mind. It really provides a window through which to study the
doors of perception."
Dr. Carhart-Harris added: "Learning about the mechanisms that
underlie what happens under the influence of psychedelic drugs can also help to
understand their possible uses. We are currently studying the effect of LSD on
creative thinking and we will also be looking at the possibility that psilocybin
may help alleviate symptoms of depression by allowing patients to change their
rigidly pessimistic patterns of thinking. Psychedelics were used for
therapeutic purposes in the 1950's and 1960's but now we are finally beginning
to understand their action in the brain and how this can inform how to put them
to good use."
The data was originally collected at Imperial College London in 2012
by a research group led by Dr. Carhart-Harris and Professor David Nutt from the
Department of Medicine, Imperial College London. Initial results revealed a
variety of changes in the brain associated with drug intake. To explore the
data further Dr. Carhart-Harris recruited specialists in the mathematical
modelling of brain networks, Professor Dante Chialvo and Dr Enzo Tagliazucchi
to investigate how psilocybin alters brain activity to produce its unusual
psychological effects.
As part of the new study, the researchers applied a measure called
entropy. This was originally developed by physicists to quantify lost energy in
mechanical systems, such as a steam engine, but entropy can also be used to
measure the range or randomness of a system. For the first time, researchers
computed the level of entropy for different networks in the brain during the
psychedelic state. This revealed a remarkable increase in entropy in the more
primitive network, indicating there was an increased number of patterns of
activity that were possible under the influence of psilocybin. It seemed the
volunteers had a much larger range of potential brain states that were
available to them, which may be the biophysical counterpart of 'mind expansion'
reported by users of psychedelic drugs.
Previous research has suggested that there may be an optimal number of
dynamic networks active in the brain, neither too many nor too few. This may
provide evolutionary advantages in terms of optimizing the balance between the
stability and flexibility of consciousness. The mind works best at a critical
point when there is a balance between order and disorder and the brain maintains
this optimal number of networks. However, when the number goes above this
point, the mind tips into a more chaotic regime where there are more networks
available than normal. Collectively, the present results suggest that
psilocybin can manipulate this critical operating point.
The
research was funded and intellectually supported by the Beckley Foundation.
Professor Chialvo is from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y
Tecnologicas (CONICET), Argentina and Dr Tagliazucchi is based at Goethe
University, Germany.
http://wwwDOTeurekalertDOTorg/pub_releases/2014-07/icl-nsd070114DOTphp
Selected
from - eurkalertDOTorg
Mid-afternoon. You had a late lunch at
Smashburgers after running errands and are presently at Kroger’s on
Mason-Montgomery Road while Carol gathers a few essentials.
2237
hours. Time for bed. We watched several shows, catching up a bit along the way.
I realized there is really next to nothing from 1.2 Pouch that is useful in
2.2. I am still working on getting the television and sound system to work directly
from the cable remote but I have only the television working from it; I still
have to use the sound bar remote for sound otherwise.
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