Aaron, this must be it, will take a read at the paper: Coliu

Peter, I usually try to visualize something and at the same time recollect things I have seen, heard or read from the past that might apply to the task at hand.
This process is seemingly transparent for me most of the times, and so I see it as a gift - being able to connect abstracts that at first sight do not have anything in common.

Though I'm not Tesla who could visualize a machine in his mind, set it up and let it run until it breaks, then figure out why it broke and make his physical design with corrected parameters, thus succeeding with it the first time around.