Ideas do not arrive out of the blue, despite often seeming so. Ideas happen when new information collides with existing knowledge or memories, and something new is created. This process, providing new information to the mind that might trigger something in the imagination, can be encouraged with external stimuli.
Many creativity techniques use some stimulus to 'tickle' (VanGundy, 1995) the mind. These ticklers can be words, images, objects, phrases and metaphors, or other people's ideas. Researchers have found that such external stimuli can lead to more ideas, and a greater variety of ideas, than brainstorming without stimuli.
The path of least resistance
The way a problem is defined—the words and concepts chosen—constitute new information. It tells you (or should tell you) what the problem is, what challenges you will encounter, and what an ideal solution would look like. This new information triggers associations in the brain, and thus 'activates' knowledge stored in the long-term memory. A problem about marketing a product can call up knowledge of marketing techniques and previous successful campaigns.
The problem with such information is that it can keep you focused on a small group of often-accessed associations, thus triggering ideas from a narrow focus. Researchers call such conventional thinking the 'path of least resistance': the mind will go where it has often been before, as if down a well-trodden path. We need information coming from unexpected places to produce original ideas.
Networks
This is where stimuli come in. Stimuli can be related to the problem—reminding you of what you have not yet explored, such as a solution to a related problem—or unrelated to the problem, such as a snippet of the lyrics of a popular song. What the stimuli share is that they evoke associations that you would probably not have made otherwise.
The brain stores knowledge in clusters, and when a particular cluster is 'activated,' it will in turn activate related clusters. In this way, a network of associations is recalled, and becomes available to the new information.
Related and unrelated stimuli
Research suggests that related stimuli lead to more ideas than unrelated stimuli, and let you delve deeply into a topic. Unrelated stimuli tend to result in more original ideas, but possibly fewer useful ones.
What type of tickler is best?
Many creativity techniques use words or phrases as ticklers. Not much research has been done on stimuli; from what we know, however, while words are used successfully, images are better at stimulating ideas. Images seem to break through conventional thinking more easily than words. Words possibly entrench conventional thinking. Images also have the power to speak directly to your memories, while words need the intervention of logical thought.
Images can therefore lead to alternative solutions than those produced by conventional thinking. Studies done on stimuli found that images result in more solutions, more practical and original solutions, and a greater variety.
Better together
But even more effective is using words and images simultaneously. The combination seems to recall associations from memory more easily than each type of stimulus alone.
Stimuli from one or several topics?
The stimuli used can be related—such as from the same topic—or unrelated, that is, from various topics. Research suggests that stimuli from the same topic lead to more ideas, emerging from delving deeply into a topic. Stimuli from unrelated topics result in more creative or original ideas, but from a greater variety of topics, and closer to the surface.
Unrelated topics may also bring up fewer ideas in the same time, as it takes longer to switch between topics than to go deeper in one. They will also spring from shallower excavations into the topic, because the problem solver will move on to the next stimulus—therefore a different topic—as soon as the flow of ideas from one stimulus slows.
Tarot cards as stimuli
If you use Tarot cards as stimuli, the cards will be unrelated to the topic of the problem (unless you are working on a Tarot topic). And although Tarot cards have an inner structure, in brainstorming they will tend to trigger a diversity of topics.
Their power to evoke associations is one reason to use Tarot cards. You’ll find even more reasons in Why use Tarot cards for creative problem solving? You’ll also find more information about associations in Whatever comes up: Associations and creativity. Brainstorming with Tarot cards features … uh … ways to brainstorm with Tarot cards.
Books and articles consulted
Chiu, I., & Shu, L. H. (2012). Investigating effects of oppositely related semantic stimuli on design concept creativity. Journal of Engineering Design, 23(4), 271–296. http://doi.org/10.1080/09544828.2011.603298
Coskun, H. (2011). Close associations and memory in brainwriting groups. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 45(1), 59–75.
Cubukcu, E., & Cetintahra, G. E. (2010). Does analogical reasoning with visual clues affect novice and experienced design students’ creativity? Creativity Research Journal, 22(3), 337–344. http://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2010.504656
Goldschmidt, G., & Smolkov, M. (2006). Variances in the impact of visual stimuli on design problem solving performance. Design Studies, 27(5), 549–569. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2006.01.002
Gonçalves, M., Cardoso, C., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2013). Inspiration peak: Exploring the semantic distance between design problem and textual inspirational stimuli. International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 1(4), 215–232. http://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2013.799309
Guo, J., & McLeod, P. L. (2014). The impact of semantic relevance and heterogeneity of pictorial stimuli on individual brainstorming: an extension of the SIAM model. Creativity Research Journal, 26(3), 361–367. http://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2014.929433
Malaga, R. A. (2000). The effect of stimulus modes and associative distance in individual creativity support systems. Decision Support Systems, 29(2), 125–141.
Nijstad, B. A., Stroebe, W., & Lodewijkx, H. F. (2002). Cognitive stimulation and interference in groups: Exposure effects in an idea generation task. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 535–544.
Pavio, A. (1983). Empirical case for dual coding. In Imagery, memory, and cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rietzschel, E. F., Nijstad, B. A., & Stroebe, W. (2007). Relative accessibility of domain knowledge and creativity: The effects of knowledge activation on the quantity and originality of generated ideas. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(6), 933–946. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.10.014
VanGundy, A. B. (1995). Brain boosters for business advantage: Ticklers, grab bags, blue skies, and other bionic ideas. San Diego, CA: Pfeiffer.
Ward, T. B. (1994). Structured imagination: The role of category structure in exemplar generation. Cognitive Psychology, 27, 1–40.
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