Notes:

• radiant thinking
• every time you have a thought, biochemical/magnetic resistance along the pathway carrying that thought is reduced, like trying to clear a path through a forest. the more times a 'mental event' happens, the more likely it is to happen again.

Psychology of learning during the learning process, the human brain primarily remembers the following:

• items from beginning of learning period (primacy effect)
• items from end of learning period (recency effect)
• any items associated with things or patterns already stored, or linked to other aspects of what is being learned
• any items emphasized as being outstanding or unique
• any items that appeal particularly strongly to one of the five senses
• those items of particular interest to the person

Key part: association and emphasis. Lacking in linear lecture notes. (BUT: difference between constructing a mind map for your own use, and using a mind map to convey information to others who did not participate in creating it).

• brains tend to look for pattern and completion
• mind map allows an infinite sequence of associative 'probes' which comprehensively investigate any idea or question with which you are concerned
  • !! sounds like Dan Suthers representational guidance, boxes that want to be filled in
• brain has five functions
  • receiving
  • holding
  • analysing
  • outputting
  • controlling
• Lorraine Gill's paper “Line is manmade”
• once mankind realized they could externalize their internal 'mental pictures', development was rapid
• distinction between
• note-taking - summarizing someone else's thoughts, book, lecture etc
• note-making - making sense of your own thoughts

• disadvantages of standard notes
  • obscure the key words
    • key words spread over different pages
    • hidden in torrent of words
  • make it difficult to remember
    • one color, looks the same, boring
  • waste time
    • write/read/find/try to remember unnecessary notes
  • fail to stimulate the brain creatively
    • linear nature prevents brain from making associations
    • list-style makes the brain thinks it's gotten to the end
• consequence of disadvantages
  • lose power of concentration
  • make notes on notes, to discover elusive essence of what we are studying
  • Sherevsky (Russian) w/perfect memory used this method to forget

Research by Dr Howe (Exeter University) on note-making/taking

Mind map

• always radiates from a central image - subject of attention crystallized in a central image
• every word and image becomes itself a subcentre of association
• branches comprise a key image or key word printed on associated line
• topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher-level branches
• branches form a connected nodal structure
• help you make distinction between mental storage capacity (which mind maps help you demonstrate) and mental storage efficiency (which mind maps help you achieve)

Mini mind map

• associations to a given word are very personal and distinct (in large group very rare that associations are the same)