16/09/23, 18:20 Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept Maps: Definitions

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World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept

Maps: Definitions
Summary: Cognitive maps, concept maps, and mind maps are
diagramming techniques that can be utilized throughout the UX process to
visualize knowledge and surface relationships among concepts.
By Sarah Gibbons on July 14, 2019 Topics: Research Methods, Design Process

Cognitive mapping, mind mapping, and concept mapping are three powerful
visual-mapping strategies for organizing, communicating, and retaining
knowledge. They help us lay out complex ideas, processes, and recognize
patterns and relationships.

Cognitive maps, mind maps, and concept maps look and feel similar; this
similarity causes confusion. They are three different ways of visualizing a mental
model — whether it belongs to the designer, the researcher, or the user. Each has
its strengths and benefits. This article is a comparison of these three popular
types of diagramming and their uses in UX.

Cognitive Maps
Cognitive maps are the umbrella term for all visual representations of mental
models. All mapping techniques described in this article are instances of cognitive
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maps.

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Definition: A cognitive map is any visual representation of a person’s (or a

group’s) mental model for a given process or concept.

Cognitive maps have no visual rules that they need to obey: there is no restriction
on how the concepts and the relationships between them are visually
represented.

History

The idea of cognitive map originates from the work of the psychologist Edward
Tolman, who is famous for his studies of how rats learned to navigate mazes. In
psychology, it has a strong spatial connotation — cognitive maps usually refer to
the representation of a space (e.g., a maze) in the brain. Cognitive maps have
since been used in a range of fields; Colin Eden, an operations researcher, used
the term in a broader sense to refer to a mental model representation of any type
of process or concept (whether spatial or not).

Cognitive mapping is free-form and can include numerous visualization methods,

including bulleted lists, flowcharts, concept diagramming, or affinity mapping.
Though the above example is digital (and thus high-fidelity), cognitive maps are often
low-fidelity and created with paper, pen, and sticky notes.
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Characteristics

Diverse in nature and purpose. Cognitive mapping is used in a broad range

of disciplines for a variety of purposes. Cognitive maps are the most general
type of mental-model visualization.
No restrictions on structure or form. Cognitive maps do not have to adhere
to a specific format. Thus, they are often abstract and have no consistent
hierarchy. They are flexible and can accommodate a wide set of concepts or
situations that need to be represented.

Uses in UX

Externalize knowledge. Visualizations (of any kind) aid in cognitive

processing; they can help us refine our thinking, breakdown ideas, and capture
thoughts. For example, a visualization becomes a helpful tool for describing
where a new feature is accessible or when a new team member is onboarded
to a new complex system.
Identify themes across different concepts. Presenting concepts in a visual
format can surface new patterns and connections. In our DesignOps research,
we asked participants to create a cognitive map of the organizational
structures in their companies. After mapping, they were able to identify
similarities (like team makeup, pain points, or bottlenecks) across siloed
teams.
Mental-model elicitation. Cognitive mapping can help UX researchers
understand users’ mental models of a system or of a process. This
understanding can be crucial when researching complex systems or even
when embarking in the design of a new product. Mental-model elicitation is
usually carried out through individual interviews in which the participant builds
a visual representation of her mental model of the research topic. The
resulting cognitive map represents a tangible representation of the
participant’s thoughts and can serve as a conversation prompt for the
facilitator. Several such maps can be clustered based on their characteristics;
these categorizations can guide the design process.
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The next two sections describe two more-constrained types of cognitive maps:
mind maps and concept maps.

Mind Maps
Mind maps are the most simplistic, and thus straightforward type of cognitive
maps. They have a clear hierarchy and format, and they are relatively quick to
create and consume.

Definition: A mind map is a tree that represents a central topic and its
subtopics.

History

The core characteristics of mind maps are rooted in the development of semantic
networks, a 1950s’ technique for representing knowledge. In 1974, British author
Tony Buzan popularized the term 'mind mapping.'

Mind maps have a central parent topic, with nodes that branch outwards towards the
peripheral.
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Characteristics

Clear organization and structure. Mind maps are restricted to tree

structures. They have clear, directed flows outward from the tree root to its
leaves.
One central topic. In mind maps, all nodes (except the tree root) have only
one parent node. Each node can have children corresponding to that
concept’s subtopics. Every concept in a mind map can be traced directly back
to the root topic.
No definition of relationships. There is no distinction between different types
of relationships among nodes — all the edges in the tree are represented in
the same way and are unlabeled.

Uses in UX

Mind maps help organize a collection of information connected to a single topic

and structure it in a systematic, meaningful way. In UX, they are helpful when
doing categorical ideation work, such as:

Breaking-down components on a specific webpage — for example, in order to

determine the mini-IA of the page
Planning subject topics within a website (for example, our article topics on
nngroup.com)
Mapping information covered in an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or
privacy policy

Concept Maps
Concept maps are a more complex version of mind maps. They place an
emphasis on identifying the relationships between topics. Additionally, a node in a
concept map can have several parents (whereas a node in a mind map will have
just one).

Definition: A concept map is a graph in which nodes represent conceptsTOP

and are related through labeled, directed edges that illustrate relationships

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between them.

History

Concept mapping was developed in the 1970s by American professor Joseph

Novak to help teachers explain complex topics in order to facilitate learning,
retaining, and relating these new topics to existing knowledge.

Concepts maps are read top down; unlike with mind maps, a node can have multiple
parents and the edges are labeled to indicate relationships between nodes.

Characteristics:

Each node can have more than one parent (i.e., one node pointing to it).
While each mind map node has only one parent, a node in a concept map can
have several parents. Thus, nodes in a concept map are often more
interconnected than nodes in mind maps, which makes concept maps well
suited for describing complex interconcept relationships.
Graph edges are directed and labeled with the names of the relationships
between the nodes they connect. Each edge illustrates a specific
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relationship (and usually is labeled with a verb or preposition that captures it).

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Uses in UX

Concept maps help visualize complex concepts that are interconnected in various
ways. They can support multiple perspectives and ways of looking at the same
problem and can be used to:

Develop a holistic picture of a set of concepts and their interconcept

relationships, such as:
Data
Organizational operations

Connect concepts with action. Concept mapping emphasizes relationships by

linking one idea to another with verbs. This characteristic is useful when
analyzing a problem (the maps often surface undiscovered causes and
effects). By visualizing the content as a web, it becomes easy to follow a ‘trail’
of relationships and thus identify systemic solutions.

The maps can be created individually or in a group (if the purpose is to create a
shared understanding of an internal process, for example.)

Methods Compared
When it comes to representing physical space, there are many types of possible
maps: topographic maps, geologic maps, pedestrian maps, street maps, and so
on. They are all flat representations of the surface of the earth, but highlight
different properties of this surface. Cartographers apply different guidelines for
designing a hiking map of a park, a highway map of a state, or a political map of
a continent.

Like the different maps of the earth, all types of cognitive maps are in some ways
the same.

UX practitioners must be cartographers of UX maps — adapting format and

structure to best suit the needs and context of the map they are creating. Use this
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table as a quick guide to compare mind maps, concept maps, and cognitive
maps.

Mind Map Concept Map Cognitive Map

Capture a
Explore
process or
Expansion of relationships
Purpose dynamic
a single topic among several
ecosystem in
concepts
free-form

Lack of any
Labeled
One primary, consistent
relationships
Defining single center; structure; mixed
between nodes;
Characteristic one parent forms (list,
multiple parents
per node diagram, graph,
per node
flowchart)

Adaptability Low Low to Medium High

To simplify when to use what, imagine introducing a new My Account view into a
website.

A mind map could be used to map the different sections, and corresponding
sub-sections of content that would be within the My Account page.

A concept map could map the larger website as a whole, and the different
entry points that the user could use to access My Account, combined with
what data could be exported or shared where.

A cognitive map could be constructed in a user interview (by the

participant) to uncover a participant’s current processes, mental models, and
considerations for accessing and sharing personal account information.

Conclusion
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16/09/23, 18:20 Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept Maps: Definitions

The three maps above are not the same as flowcharts, so an enumeration of
steps should not be fit for a map. However, there are diverse benefits from
visualizing a concept, idea, or process, whether it be through a cognitive map,
mind map, or concept map, and both individually or amongst a team:

Provides a tangible visual abstract thoughts

Communicates relationships or patterns between concepts
Deepens our knowledge and understanding of a specific topic or concept
Helps us integrate new ideas with existing systems
Synthesizes a complex ecosystem into a single visualization that can be
shared

Taking fuzzy, abstract concepts and making them tangible enhance team
communication and creates common ground. It’s also make it easy for a team
member to immediately spot something on the map and say, “that’s not right.”
Maybe your colleague is right, and something wasn’t captured correctly. Or
maybe your colleague is wrong, and the map uncovers a misconception that
would have otherwise lead to friction later in the project. Either way, the mapping
exercise pinpointed something that required further discussion, which is far more
efficient in the long run than proceeding on a project with a misaligned
understanding.

Cognitive maps, mind maps, and concept maps ultimately enhance our cognitive
understanding. Using one technique over another will not make or break a
project. Ideally, a combination of all three will be used as needed at different
points in your process, depending on your needs.

References
Buzan, T. (1993) The Mind Map Book. London: BBC Books

Eden, C. (1988) “Cognitive mapping”, European Journal of Operational Research,

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36:1-13

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16/09/23, 18:20 Cognitive Maps, Mind Maps, and Concept Maps: Definitions

Eppler, Martin J. (2006) “A Comparison between Concept Maps, Mind Maps,

Conceptual Diagrams, and Visual Metaphors as Complementary Tools for
Knowledge Construction and Sharing.” Information Visualization. Palgrave
Journals.

Kelly, G.A., (1995) The psychology of personal constructs. New York: Norton.

Novak, J.D., Gowin, D. B. (1984). Learning How to Learn. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

Tolman, Edward C. (July 1948). "Cognitive maps in rats and men". Psychological
Review.

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