information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center,

to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a

central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. Categories can represent

words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to a central key word or idea.

Mind maps can be drawn by hand, either as "rough notes" during a lecture or meeting,

for example, or as higher quality pictures when more time is available. An example of

a rough mind map is illustrated. Mind maps are considered to be a type of spider

diagram. A similar concept in the 1970s was "idea sun bursting".

Origins Although the term "mind map" was first popularized

by British popular psychology author and television personality Tony Buzan, the use of diagrams

that visually "map" information using branching and radial maps traces back centuries. These

pictorial methods record knowledge and model systems, and have a long history in learning,

brainstorming, memory, visual thinking, and problem solving by educators, engineers, psychologists,

and others. Some of the earliest examples of such graphical records were developed by

Porphyry of Tyros, a noted thinker of the 3rd century, as he graphically visualized

the concept categories of Aristotle. Philosopher Ramon Llull (1235–1315) also used such techniques.

The semantic network was developed in the late 1950s as a theory to understand human

learning and developed further by Allan M. Collins and M. Ross Quillian during the early

1960s. Mind maps are similar in radial structure to concept maps, developed by learning experts

in the 1970s, but differ in that the former are simplified by focusing around a single

central key concept. Popularisation of the term "mind map"

Buzan's specific approach, and the introduction of the term "mind map" arose during a 1974

BBC TV series he hosted, called Use Your Head. In this show, and companion book series, Buzan

promoted his conception of radial tree, diagramming key words in a colorful, radiant, tree-like

structure. Buzan says the idea was inspired by Alfred

Korzybski's general semantics as popularized in science fiction novels, such as those of

Robert A. Heinlein and A.E. van Vogt. He argues that while "traditional" outlines force readers

to scan left to right and top to bottom, readers actually tend to scan the entire page in a

non-linear fashion. Buzan's treatment also uses then-popular assumptions about the functions

of cerebral hemispheres in order to explain the claimed increased effectiveness of mind

mapping over other forms of note making. Mind map guidelines

Buzan suggests the following guidelines for creating mind maps:

Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors.

Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your mind map.

Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.

Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.

The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker,

organic and thinner as they radiate out from the center.

Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.

Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual stimulation and also to encode

or group. Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.

Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map.

Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy or outlines to embrace your branches.

This list is itself more concise than a prose version of the same information and the mind

map of these guidelines is itself intended to be more memorable and quicker to scan than

either the prose or the list. Uses

As with other diagramming tools, mind maps can be used to generate, visualize, structure,

and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems,

making decisions, and writing. Mind maps have many applications in personal,

family, educational, and business situations, including notetaking, brainstorming (wherein

ideas are inserted into the map radially around the center node, without the implicit prioritization

that comes from hierarchy or sequential arrangements, and wherein grouping and organizing is reserved

for later stages), summarizing, as a mnemonic technique, or to sort out a complicated idea.

Mind maps are also promoted as a way to collaborate in color pen creativity sessions.

In addition to these direct use cases, data retrieved from mind maps can be used to enhance

several other applications; for instance expert search systems, search engines and search

and tag query recommender. To do so, mind maps can be analysed with classic methods

of information retrieval to classify a mind map's author or documents that are linked

from within the mind map. Differences from other visualizations

Concept maps - Mind maps differ from concept maps in that mind maps focus on only one word

or idea, whereas concept maps connect multiple words or ideas. Also, concept maps typically

have text labels on their connecting lines/arms. Mind maps are based on radial hierarchies

and tree structures denoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas

concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns. However,

either can be part of a larger personal knowledge base system.

Modelling graphs - There is no rigorous right or wrong with mind maps, relying on the arbitrariness

of mnemonic systems. A UML diagram or a semantic network has structured elements modelling

relationships, with lines connecting objects to indicate relationship. This is generally

done in black and white with a clear and agreed iconography. Mind maps serve a different purpose:

they help with memory and organization. Mind maps are collections of words structured by

the mental context of the author with visual mnemonics, and, through the use of colour,

icons and visual links, are informal and necessary to the proper functioning of the mind map.

Research Effectiveness - Cunningham (2005) conducted

a user study in which 80% of the students thought "mindmapping helped them understand

concepts and ideas in science". Other studies also report positive effects through the use

of mind maps. Farrand, Hussain, and Hennessy (2002) found that spider diagrams (similar

to concept maps) had limited, but significant, impact on memory recall in undergraduate students

(a 10% increase over baseline for a 600-word text only) as compared to preferred study

methods (a 6% increase over baseline). This improvement was only robust after a week for

those in the diagram group and there was a significant decrease in motivation compared

to the subjects' preferred methods of note taking. A meta study about concept mapping

concluded that concept mapping is more effective than "reading text passages, attending lectures,

and participating in class discussions". The same study also concluded that concept mapping

is slightly more effective "than other constructive activities such as writing summaries and outlines".

In addition, they concluded that low-ability students may benefit more from mind mapping

than high-ability students. Features of Mind Maps - Beel & Langer (2011)

conducted a comprehensive analysis of the content of mind maps. They analysed 19,379

mind maps from 11,179 users of the mind mapping applications SciPlore MindMapping (aka Docear)

and MindMeister. Results include that average users create only a few mind maps (mean=2.7),

average mind maps are rather small (31 nodes) with each node containing about 3 words (median).

However, there were exceptions. One user created more than 200 mind maps, the largest mind

map consisted of more than 50,000 nodes and the largest node contained ~7500 words. The

study also showed that between different mind mapping applications (Docear vs MindMeister)

significant differences exist related to how users create mind maps.

Automatic Creating of Mind Maps - There have been some attempts to create mind maps automatically.

Brucks & Schommer created mind maps automatically from full-text streams. Rothenberger et al.

extracted the main story of a text and presented it as mind map. And there is a patent about

automatically creating sub-topics in mind maps.

Pen and Paper vs Computer - There are two studies that analyze whether electronic mind

mapping or pen based mind mapping is more effective.

Tools Mind-mapping software can be used to organize

large amounts of information, combining spatial organization, dynamic hierarchical structuring

and node folding. Software packages can extend the concept of mind-mapping by allowing individuals

to map more than thoughts and ideas with information on their computers and the Internet, like

spreadsheets, documents, Internet sites and images. It has been suggested that mind-mapping

can improve learning/study efficiency up to 15% over conventional note-taking.

Generation from natural language In 2009, Mohamed Elhoseiny et al. presented

the first prototype that can generate mind maps out of small text to fit in a single

screen. In 2012, it was extended into a more scalable system that can work from larger

texts. Trademark

The phrase "mind map" is trademarked by Buzan's company for the specific use of self-improvement

educational courses in Great Britain and the United States. The trademark does not appear

in the records of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.