...I'm fairly sure that by 'cognitive map', Minsky means that student should have an idea what the given subject / field is really all about, where it is useful

...I'm fairly sure that by 'cognitive map', Minsky means that student should have an idea what the given subject / field is really all about, where it is useful and what kind of problems it tries to solve, even if they are taking the first baby steps on studying it. Visualizations would be only tangentially related.