?Why use Mind Maps

Welcome to the first edition in the Mindsystems Practical Mapping Series. This series is aimed at giving new users a solid understanding of what mind maps are, and why they make a difference to personal productivity. The content of this series is deliberately geared toward self-learning and you should feel welcome to ask us questions if you get lost. We will focus on examining the background of mind mapping, and identifying the reasons why you can benefit from this technique. The material is drawn from experts with an average of 15 years of experience. If unfamiliar with mind mapping, please start with this brief explanation.

The 1st Question: Why use Mind Maps?

In short, they essentially make life easier. Using Mind Mapping software can improve the quality of your work, increase creativity and boost personal productivity. The basis for using mind mapping as a part of your thinking, planning and creative activities is in fact scientific. The visual format simultaneously engages both sides of your brain, meaning that when you consider information in the context of a map, you are engaging at full capacity.

The Scientific Basis: The Brain

The brain is the starting point to all our achievements. The way we choose to use our brain often determines our true effectiveness. While you have a choice in how you use your brain, there are some fundamental rules that govern us all. Be honest with yourself, when you first glanced at this section, did the large graphic dominate your attention for a moment?

A majority of people reading this will likely answer ‘yes’. This is the visual aspect of your mind working to identify visual information, before you are even fully conscious of it. By grouping the most obvious visual things on the page first, your mind is trying to categorise and understand the content… and it started that process without you even being aware of it!

Ask yourself, did you decide to look at the graphic first, or did you just do it?

If we study the great thinkers of our time we might wonder why they are so much more effective than the average person. Is it because they were born with a special talent? That might be the case, but perhaps it is because they had learned the secret of maximising the use of their brains. The purpose of using techniques like mind mapping is to explore the possibilities we all have to maximise our cognitive potential.

One of the theories that has stood the test of time is ‘left and right brain’, the notion that response types are governed by different parts of the brain. Left being the logical, analytic component and right the creative, spontaneous side of our brain function. When we examine some of the great thinkers we see clear evidence of their ability to use both sides of their brains. Leonardo da Vinci was a case in point. He was a brilliant engineer (mostly a left brained activity), but also a brilliant artist and highly creative (right brain activity).

Types of Intelligence: IQ is not the whole picture

Over the years, and particularly in the last 20 years, a whole range of different intelligences have been identified. Formal measurement of intelligence, in a quantitative way, started with the Intelligence Quotient or IQ as it is more commonly known. While this one is often used and quoted there are twelve or thirteen others.

For example: ‘Spatial Intelligence’… can you imagine an architect who could not visualise things in 3D? He could be as astute at mathematics, history and science as he likes… without spatial awareness his work would be flawed or at least significantly hampered. So you see, when someone boldly boasts a genius level IQ, while that is impressive in some regards, the rest of us should not be disillusioned. It is the circumstance you find yourself in and the application of your type of intelligence that matters. Indeed, many of the world’s ‘Genius’ folk seem to rank terribly when it comes to emotional awareness.

Visual Information vs Static Information

Suppose you were walking along a country track and out of the corner of your eye, at your feet, you spot something black and wriggly! What would do? Well, I think most people would jump out of the way. We are not 100% sure of what that is so we assume danger and react. But guess what? Your brain has already absorbed a whole lot more information visually, it is just waiting for you to catch up.

Let’s consider exactly what just happened inside our brain. The information entered via our eyes and arrived at two parts in the brain simultaneously: one an organ in the front of the head called the Amygdala and also, for convenience, an area we will call the cerebral cortex. The Amygdala causes us to react instantly by flooding our body with adrenalin. That gets us ready for fight or flight. Because the decision to fight is usually not instant, the result is we get out of harm’s way. Then we stop and look to back, hang on… it is not a snake, it is a piece of dead wood! Now the more logical part of our mind, the cerebral cortex, kicks in and tells us there is really no danger. Essentially this is because we’ve had more time to process all the input the brain is collecting. This is both parts of the mind working as one. Information is absorbed quickly and then eventually processed.

This example shows us that the brain is able to absorb a lot of information very rapidly through our primary senses, in particular visually. Information that is presented to us visually, not only has a much faster take up rate… but it seems to stick with us longer. If 5 years later you cast your mind back to your incident on the country track, the thing you will probably remember most vividly is the black stick/snake… along with how you felt about it.

So the question is, how do we harness this innate power to absorb information?

One method is to use mind mapping. But just why that method works, we’ll discover in the next edition of this series.