What is the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve?

Spaced Repetition April 26 2016

Ebbinghaus forgetting curveYou might think that the teaching technique known as spaced repetition, which has gained more and more traction over the past few years with language learning apps and our very own solution here at Wranx, was developed quite recently. However, it can trace its routes back over a century thanks to the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus who developed the idea of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve.

This German psychologist, who pioneered the experimental study of memory, first identified the spacing effect phenomenon in his 1885 book Über das Gedächtnis. Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie (Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology).

Along with his research into spaced repetition, Ebbinghaus also discovered the forgetting curve, a hypothesis that looked at the decline of memory retention over time. But what do you need to know about Ebbinghaus and the forgetting curve?


Ebbinghaus’ memory experimentations






ebbinghaus diagram

What is Ebbinghaus forgetting curve




Having said that, the basal forgetting rate doesn’t differ much between individuals, whereas performance rates can be explained by mnemonic representation skills.


Theories associated with the forgetting curve

In addition to the forgetting curve, Ebbinghaus was the first person to describe the learning curve. Although he never used the term ‘learning curve,’ he presented diagrams of learning against trial number and noted that the store can decrease or even oscillate.

As you can probably guess, the learning curve refers to how fast an individual learns new information or knowledge. The sharpest increase occurs after the first piece of trying or teaching, but then gradually evens out. This means that less and less new information or knowledge is retained after each repetition. Just like the forgetting curve, the learning curve is exponential over time.

As a result of his discovery of the forgetting curve, Ebbinghaus also came up with the effects of “overlearning”. In general terms, this means that if an individual learns something more than is usually necessary to memorise it, they would effectively achieve overlearning. This can also mean that information or knowledge is more impervious to being lost or forgotten, making the forgetting curve much shallower.

The forgetting curve supports transience too, one of the seven kinds of memory failures that alludes to the process of forgetting over a period of time.


How to overcome the forgetting curve


 Better memory representation (e.g. mnemonic techniques) - Coming up with a song is perhaps the most commonly used mnemonic technique. An example of which is how children remember their ABCs. However, other types include names, expressions, models, odes, note organisation, images, connections, and spellings.

Repetition based on active recall (especially spaced repetition) - When reviewing learned information, spacing out sessions over time makes items easier to remember. This is achieved through spaced presentation rather than repeat studying in a short span of time, also known as massed presentation.



Memories of shocking events like the Kennedy Assassination or 9/11 are vividly imprinted in memory according to the flashbulb theory, while considerable variations in written recollections are possible when memory incorporates after-acquired information.


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