The stimuli works best if it is vivid and in contrast to our routines. The contrast will see alternative connections and cross the established paths in our brains. For someone who doesn't believe in UFO's, the experience of seeing a UFO landing in his back yard would be such a stimuli. Each of our senses trigger different parts of our brain and different associations. If we want to explore a subject, the more senses we use in our search, the more associations, connections we will make and the more new ideas we will get.
Designers are one group of people that have experience in intuitive exploration.
Some of the tools they use to add stimuli are drawing and modeling. While most of us rely mostly on auditory information exchange, drawing and modeling, while listening to music, ads two more sensory input. This multi directional approach, accelerates the creation of associations. Anyone can draw and model, but most of us have never used those skills. The skills have stagnated at the development stage of a child's level.