Going back in time: The origins of Mind Maps

Anyone familiar with Mind Maps has come across the name Tony Buzan (he also wrote the foreword of this book). Buzan is considered to be the inventor of Mind Mapping. He was a former science reporter and formalized the Mind Mapping technique in the 1970s on the basis of research into the brain and learning current at that time. A major source of inspiration was the ‘Split Brain’ research of Roger Sperry. This research was based on epilepsy sufferers whose corpus callosum, the connection between the brain’s hemispheres, had been cut.

This showed that different mental functions are assigned to various parts of the brain’s hemispheres. The research led to a recognition that the brain has several ways of organising and processing information. For example, in addition to processes based on speech and logic there’s also graphic and spatial localisation.

Sperry and his research team have never asserted, as has been wrongly ascribed to them, that the brain can be divided into two separate halves that act independently of each other. The notion that the brain can be separated into a logical–analytical left half and a chaotic–creative right half and that, as a consequence, different types of people such as ‘left-brainers’ and ‘right-brainers’ exist, is a myth which unfortunately is still purveyed by some authors, despite the fact that this thesis was abandoned by the scientific community 15 years ago. However, it’s still cogently argued and, in addition, the brain-half myth is apparently borne out in practice, which explains why it still has currency today.

The analysis of records of extraordinary people who are renowned for their accomplishments also encouraged the development of Mind Maps. It’s striking that such people very often use visual representations and drawings to establish their thoughts and ideas.

In the 1970s Tony Buzan was also lecturing as an educational psychologist on the use of the brain and realised he could improve the effect of his lectures by encouraging his students to use their brains differently. He developed an operations manual of the brain which became part of a successful BBC series called Use Your Head.

Using this and other background information, Buzan developed and formalised the visual technique of Mind Mapping, which is the subject of this book. Mind Mapping is a graphic technique based on a few rules that allows you to visualise, structure and organise a multiplicity of information in a meaningful way.