Mind maps are diagrams that aims to organize and hierarchise informations around a single concept or idea in a non linear way. The main subject is drawn in the middle of a blank paper and the major ideas are branched out to it.
The hierarchy between ideas is made mostly by distance from the central idea : the closest is the idea, the higher it is in the hierarchi.
Mind maps are great when we need to synthetise a non linear subject on a tiny space to have a great overview of it. They’re also great pieces to be creative. The goal here is to make the subject very visual to improve the learning and the Note-taking process.
The benefits are mostly for memory: as we’re condensing the subjects through the graph organization and abstracting concepts using drawings, we’re decreasing the number of things to remember. It help our Working memory, sayed to be limited to 7 things
The concept have been popularized by Tony Buzan with his eponym book “Mind maps”
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