Say I'm in a brain science lecture, and the prof mentions that cerebrospinal fluid is used to cushion the brain and has a bunch of proteins and stuff to maintain cell function. I remember reading in a journal not that long ago that the ventricles where the CSF lies is lined with stem cells. That's a pretty radical idea to me, and it isn't mentioned (and is presumable unknown) by the prof.

The moment this happens, I would normally move into a default mode, likely recollecting my understanding of how that all works, and I would lose focus on the lecture. So when I come back, there are chunks of the speech I didn't catch because I was busy daydreaming about brain systems.

But with psilocybin, I find that I'm able to keep this kind of cognitive exploration in check, allowing me to hear the lecture and attach it to my default network thinking.

This is the same thing when I'm reading a text, or recollecting through recorded knowledge in my head. Sometimes I'll encounter an idea or a fact and move into that imaginitive headspace, all the while forgetting the various things that got me there in the first place. So when I trace my steps, the understanding is lost and reciprocally the so-called imaginitive idea disintegrates. The best example I can give for this is when you read through a few paragraphs and realize you didn't really read any of it, your eyes were just moving down the page while your brain was on something else.

Psilocybin makes those facts stick out so that I can still explore imaginatively while holding onto the reality that made it happen in the first place. So in terms of text reading, for example, I don't ever need to re-read a paragraph because I never drifted off in the first place. Part of my mind drifts off, and part of it pays attention. Because both are happening, I don't lose my focus on one mode or the other.