'Mr.Brain' Part-4 "Mapping at its best"

Well, having seen how we can create a mind map, it would be ideal to look at what can be done with it. It comes as an aid in note making, note taking, decision making(dyadic decisions and polycategoric mind maps)and memory.I'm trying to create an ideal opportunity to improve the hand/eye coordination and refine your visual skills. The image making skills are going to improve as the practice goes on and so is the comfort in using the image, colour, dimension and spacing according to the guiding principles which was dealt in the previous post. First it is good to copy mind maps as to know how an ideal mind map would look like. We always improve our creativity only after copying in the initial stages. So it is important that we copy at the initial stages and develop our own creative style. Now let us see how we can use it for decision making. It can be used for general decision making and simple decision making,which basically involves dyadic (a decision between two options)decisions. So how do we do it with the mind map?

An ideal mind map!! A more simple one of course!!

Let's see how its done. First draw a big central image of the problem needing a decision and its branches, which would be the conventional YES and NO as the Basic Ordering Ideas(BOIs). Then draw a mini mind map and analyse all the possible thoughts that would spring up as you think about the problem. Normally, decisions can be taken at the end of drawing the mind map itself. But if you can't, then weight your decisions by giving a number from 1 to 100 to each of your thought in the mind map. Then calculate the number in each of the branches and at the end you can choose a good decision out of the two.This technique is called Number weighting method. Even if you don't get the decision from that then there is something called as your intuition or what the researchers call as the 'superlogic' or the 'gut instinct'. It has been found that we get 83.7862 percent of our decisions right, this way. But if this doesn't work, then there is another technique called incubation. It is the technique of being relaxed. This is when the gigantic powers of the parabrain- the 99 per cent of our unused mental ability including that which is often called 'the paraconscious' work at its best. This method is supported by practical experience. Now if the weightings are still even, you better toss a coin. If you have a preference to one decision ,while tossing the coin, then I think you've taken the decision.

A mind map by Vanda North to decide whether to move her business or stay by using Number weighting method

What else can we do with it, huh?

The next thing you can do with mind mapping is make notes. It is about organising your own thoughts in either a dyadic or polycategoric (complex) way. A polycategoric mind map is a complex mind map consisting of an average of three to seven BOIs. Basic questions- How/what/where/when/why/who/which?, Divisions- chapters/lessons/themes, Properties- characteristics of things, History- chronological sequence of events, Structure- forms of things, Function-what things do, Process- how things work, Evaluation- how good/ worthwhile/beneficial things are,Classification- how things are related to each other, Definitions-what things mean and Personalities- what roles/characters people have, are the groups of BOIs found to be particularly useful in developing polycategoric Mind maps. Collect all thoughts related to the topic at the centre and make sure to complete it on the Mind map.

It has been proved that the highly sophisticated hierarchical classifications systems used in biology and astronomy have increasingly come to resemble complex polycategoric mind maps- a case of Mind maps reflecting nature and vice versa!!

What about the boring lectures or the books that make us sleep, to do with mind maps?
The other case of using mind map is note taking. Organising others' ideas. How do we do that? There are four main functions of notes. Mnemonic, Analytic, Creative and conversational. Students think that notes are only for memory aid. But it is not so. Not for reproducing it in an exam and forgetting it happily. There are equally other functions such as analysis and creative are equally important. Mind maps do just that. The steps in the technique of note taking are as follows:

• Browse- Look through the entire book, getting a general feel for the way it is organised.
• Time- Work out the length of time to be spent and determine the amount of material to be covered in that time.
  
• Draw a mind map of what you already know about the topic.
• Define the aims and objectives for the study session and a complete different mind maps of all the questions that need to be answered.
• Overview of the text, looking at the table of contents, major headings, results, conclusions, summaries, major illustrations or graphs and any other important elements which catch your eye. This will get you an idea of how your polycategoric mind map will look like.
  
• Preview- Looking at all the material not covered in the overview, particularly the beginnings and ends of paragraphs, sections and chapters, where the essential information tends to be concentrated. Add to your mind map.
• Inview- The bulk of the learning puzzle, still skipping over any major problem areas.
  
• Review- In which we go back to the problem areas and try to work on it a little more.

It is like a finishing a jigsaw puzzle. First start filling the corners and the sides after looking at the complete picture, and then try to come to the middle until you have a complete replica of the complete picture.

How do we remember what we have drawn? The answer is simple and effective!!
There is something to do with Zeus!! Find out what it is!!

Finally, I would like to tell about how we can remember it. Mind maps were found by Tony Buzan, a researcher, who has spent nearly most of his lifetime in how to make the brain efficient. I would like to end this post with a story and a way of remembering mind maps.

Zeus, the king of gods, was a well known as a philanderer. He spent most of his time seducing-either directly or by means of deception-all the women in the heavens and on earth. Contrary to the popular belief, his affections were not spread equally-there was one goddess with whom he spent far more time than any other. Her name was Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. On one occasion he spent nine days and nights making passionate love to her, a coupling which resulting in the birth of nine muses. The muses represent creativity. Each is the goddess of a particular art: Erato-love poetry, Calliope-epic poetry, Euterpe-lyric poetry, Urania-astronomy, Polyhymnia-hymns, Clio-history, Thalia-comedy, Terpsichore-dance, Melpomene-tragedy. So, according to the myth, applying energy, symbolised by Zeus, to memory produces a fertilisation which results in creativity. So Tony says through his research that recall during learning has got much of things to do with mnemonics.

Mnemonic techniques involve the use of imagination and association in order to produce a new and memorable image. It also combines all the cortical skills to create a highly advanced multi-dimensional memory device. It creates an internal, radiant, three-dimensional image that uses cross-association, colour, and time. A creative device is formed which combines two elements to produce a third for the purpose of projecting the present into the future. The mnemonic device helps you recreate the past in the present. It associates two items in order to enable the brain to recall(recreate) a third image in the future. his creative and mnemonic mind maps are one and the same physically but the intent of both are different. So this is how the memory works out pretty well. Its all about associations and imagination.

If we are not able to remember a thing or say a person, then leave a blank image at the centre and draw a mind map involving a lot of other things that you remember about the thing or person. Then you'll easily be able to identify after a moment with the details in the mind map. Try it out and enjoy by having more knowledge than ever cause knowledge takes you to the highest position by giving meaning to your life. Practice makes you to get along with it.

-SATZ