Mind Maps – Why are they so effective?

So just how do memories work…and why should we use Mind Maps to improve them?

“We like to think that memory is similar to taking a photograph and placing that photograph into a filing cabinet drawer to be withdrawn later (recalled) as the “memory” exactly the way it was placed there originally (stored).  But memory is more like taking a picture and tearing it up into small pieces and putting the pieces in different drawers.”

-Neuroscience Online, The University of Texas

Memories are not located in one particular place in the brain, but in many locations, a process referred to as distributed processing….apologies for sounding a bit ‘technical’ ,the point being that the brain works like a web, not a filing cabinet.

So, if that is how the brain works for storing memories, shouldn’t that also be the most effective method for retrieving those same memories?

Which is where Mind Maps come in.

Why Mind Maps?

Mind Map: a diagram in which information is represented visually, usually with a central idea placed in the middle and associated ideas arranged around it.

In 1933, the German psychologist Hewig von Restorff published a paper in which he revealed that we are far more likely to remember an item on a list if it stands out; e.g. if we are presented with a list of numbers with a letter in the middle, we will remember the letter, because it is different from everything else on the list.

Actually, we’ve already covered this principle in a recent blog  ‘On the menu’ from the 2017 Oxford Literary Festival, which discussed the various visual ‘tricks’ used to make items stand out in a menu (which is essentially just one long list!)

So Mind Maps make recall easier, because they are structured like our memories, and because they use images, mnemonics, rhythms, colour, and sound to make these memories stand out.

Is it any coincidence that the brightest minds already use these principles?

• The World Memory Championships: all the competitors use some combination of words and images to help them remember cards, or random sequences of numbers
• GHCQ Christmas quiz: a world-famous, fiendishly difficult test which requires problem solvers to think laterally
• Cryptic crosswords: the use of word clues, anagrams, letter sequences..etc, requires contestants to look at things in a different way and to make (seemingly) obscure connections

So, discard those long boring lists, break out the coloured pens, doodle, and get creative!