short time memory and outliner software

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Mar 25, 2008 at 03:38 PM

Graham Rhind wrote:
>I’m not sure I grasp what you’re getting it. Isn’t the whole point of
>outliners and other information management systems to be able to dump information
>out of the brain so that no information gets lost due to our poor in-built memories and
>processing systems?

Not necessarily; one may use such systems in order to better structure information with the end goal of _memorising_ it. Or, as in my case, of better delivering it to an audience.

So indeed I do get Guido’s point. Tony Buzan notes two important advantages of mind maps: (a) better understanding of information and therefore (b) better recall of that information. For example, he suggests making mind maps of whatever books one reads.

Buzan also suggests that mind maps (that in terms of structure are nothing more than outlines) are more suitable for the human brain to comprehend and recall, because its neural layout is similar. Furthermore, he suggests complementing item titles with colours and images to increase their impression on the mind.

I don’t know whether neural research supports Buzan’s claim on the layout, but I believe it does support the one on images. So, going back to Guido’s initial point, I’d say that it sounds quite reasonable and complementary: structure information in groups of no more than six per level, show it two-dimensionally (in a mindmap), and increase the impression with images and colours.

By the way, the ‘no more than six’ rule is often used in powerpoint “six points with six words each” resulting in some really dumb presentations (see also http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html ) so I find outlines and mindmaps much preferable.

alx