Abstract. Requirement specification phase allows that software analysts can detail user’s needs by means of textual models or UML diagrams. However, textual models can present inconsistencies related to the writing and the terms used in the specification. Many authors used mind maps as artifacts in requirement gathering and analysis. Thereby, it comes up the following question: “Can mind maps be used to specify software requirements?”. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of the use of mind maps for the specification of requirements. Therefore, a specification model based on mind maps and an experimental study are proposed by this research.