Having spent some recent time thinking about the before & after occurrence of an idea in our brain, especially me trying to describe to my 2D design class how to “brain storm” this article popped out at me.
Isaac Asimov wrote a paper in 1959 for a spinoff of MIT called Allied Research Associates that addresses some considerations in regards to how this thought, an idea may be sprouted. This article about creativity and “How do people get new ideas?” has recently been discovered and posted into Technology Review.
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/