Nature of Memory Recall | Key Concepts / Key Words

Get ready for a small exercise: Describe any book you have read, or any place you have visited, or any film or TV program you have watched. Close your eyes and do it for about 2 minutes.People do not tell word-for-word for what happened. What they remember is main features, outlines, main incidents of film. These are key words of key concepts. 

You remember things as key words and key concepts rather than word-for-word details and word-for-word descriptions. This is the very nature of your memory.

Use the following guidelines while drawing or writing a mind map.

•    Use a key word or key phrase at the centre. 

•    Then draw lines from the centre.

•    On each line, write key words in CAPITAL letters. Use of capital letters helps in revision and memory.

•    Use only one word per line. This makes it easy to make connections.

•    Let ideas flow. Do not try to “think” hard. Just write down whatever comes to your mind. The aim is to write everything that your mind thinks about the central idea. Since your mind thinks faster than you can write, you should not pause or stop momentarily. Just keep writing or drawing.

Mind maps use only key words and key concepts while linear notes use complete sentences and paragraphs. The key words and key concepts use only 20% of the words. So, if you use linear notes, you waste time in writing those 80% additional words, and more importantly, you waste time in reading those 80% additional words every time you revise. In linear notes, you waste time searching for the key words because they are mixed up with non-key words.

The mind map has the following additional advantages :

•    Mind map clearly shows the central idea of lesson.

•    The relative importance of any idea is clearly shown: the ideas nearer to the centre are more important.

•    The links or connections between key ideas are clearly shown.

•    The nature of the structure makes it easy to add new information without scratching or writing in small letters.

•    Each mind map looks different from others- it helps memory.

When you use mind map notes, you do not have to worry about the problems usually associated with linear notes such as: order, sequence, emphasis of ideas, beginning, ending, organization etc. These problems are simply eliminated in the mind map technique.

Exercise : Spend 15 minutes and prepare your own mind map notes for this book.