Whether it’s meditation or a glass of wine, most everyone has their own method of inspiring creative thoughts.

But a recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex by a team of Georgetown University researchers found that a small jolt of electricity to the brain might also enhance an individual’s capacity to think outside the box.

They used transcranial direct current stimulation to trigger the frontopolar cortex, a part of the brain known to drive creative-thinking skills. While research participants were being tested, researchers gave verbal cues to prompt creative thinking.

People with speech and language difficulties sometimes struggle to produce the words they need. The study findings show that giving individuals a jolt of electrical stimulation can increase the brain’s natural “thinking cap” by boosting creativity, which experts previously considered a static trait. The people in the study were able to form more inventive analogies between sets of words, as well as generate word associations that were more creative.

The researchers hope this kind of brain stimulation will be able to help people who have brain disorders, such as speech impediments, in the future. Exactly how transcranial stimulation works isn’t fully understood, and researchers say more study is needed to determine if the effects are lasting and substantial.

The research is still in its early stages, and not much is known about how the technique affects overall brain function.

Still, researchers said enhancing creative thinking might allow people with brain disorders to find new ways of expressing their ideas using different words, gestures or other approaches.