Analysing a thought from its inception to its conclusion. It is a process and as such it will be dealt with. For the thought to materialise, to instantiate it has to be embedded in two levels, the brain and the mind. The brain refers to the neural structures that carry the mental structures, the neural structures being the vehicles for the mental structures.
It relies upon the existence of a certain number of intermediate, pre-existing thoughts in the form of ideas, concepts, notions namely pre-existing mental structures despite their validity, as such the only pre-requisite is that they are secure in a psychological sense in the mental level and more significantly, for the thought process to occur their existence in the neural level. A necessary condition to be satisfied otherwise the thought process would not occur.
The thought process would undergo with whatever is available at the neural level. The mental structures are composite exist as free-standing units and they are accomplished via connections associations between neural structures by synaptic pathways. Synaptic pathways traverse disparate regions of the brain? Proximity matters?
Confusion matters? Confusion dissolved? Cleared? Confusion a hindrance for a thought to occur? A thought can be thought as a novel way of looking at things, something new created despite its magnitude or its significance. It differs from other mental processes that involve a simple recall of stored ideas, concepts, notions, or even plain memories.
Thinking is a process where new associations are performed and is triggered when individuals are confronted with tasks which there is not a ready made solution. They have to invent the solution.