Does anyone else feel smarter on psychedelics?

The pharmacological mechanisms for this effect make sense. Psychedelics, and even dissociatives, actually decrease brain activity in regions of the brain that control ego and suppression of abstract thought; like the thalamus, posterior singulate, and the medial pre-frontal cortex. So when your brain is not under the influence of these substances, that area of the brain is actively preventing you from noticing many of the non-verbal social cues that we give off. It is also maintaining your sense of ego, for evolutionary purposes.

Once you deactivate these regions of the brain, you start to be able to pick up and interpret all those cues that were being suppressed before. For many, that may seem like there is this supernatural connection that did not exist before. However, evidence is showing that is not really the case. This information is being passed all the time. It's just that evolutionary mechanisms have enabled your brain to suppress the processing of that information.

There are going to be massive differences between individuals in how they react to that change. Many people will find that it is a huge shift in the way they think. Others will only notice subtle changes. Those that naturally have more activity in places of the brain like the thalamus, are going to notice a much greater perspective shift while on psychedelics than those with naturally lower activity in those regions. It's actually very interesting going into psychedelic experiences knowing the mechanisms that we know now. From my observation, it seems those that go into the experience with the knowledge of the pharmacology of it have less mystical experiences, and see it more as a learning experience for how our brain processes information.