Mind Maps

I was reading the other day about a mind map software that facilitates the user to create a mind map, and then about some guidelines to make mind maps, and I remembered one of my ex-colleagues at the university who always used mind maps for studying, but they appeared to me as these complex maps where nothing can be understood from an outsider view. And of course! That's what they seem like. Maybe because all of us picture/organize things/thoughts differently. So the question is are these mind maps transferable? Or are they an efficient study method?

In their paper, 'The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique', Paul Farrand, Fearzana Hussain and Enid Hennessy study the effectiveness of using mind maps. Subjects in the mind map group were trained in the mind map technique and told to apply it to the passage of text. Their conclusion was that mind maps provide an effective study technique when applied to written material. However before mind maps are generally adopted as a study technique, consideration has to be given towards ways of improving motivation amongst users. 

Their paper also reminded me of how I lacked the motivation of using a mind map. They state that mind maps are useful for problem based learning (PBL). I'm not sure whether mind maps are applicable when trying to solve a problem, however I would be fascinated by mind maps if this were true. I am curious if anyone from the group uses mind maps, and how did this impact their learning ability. 

Are mind maps useful for something else than memorizing things? They seem like a very good strategy for storing information in our mind... And this reminds me of a previous post about Hannibal's chambers of memory, that I do not see anymore on the blog unfortunately, but that I found quite interesting.