In fact, the processes of remembering and forgetting today are relevant for every person, because every day people have to absorb a huge amount of information. And in this case, the Ebbinghaus curve, which is widely used in various psychological techniques, will help you.
Of course, people are interested in more information. What does the Ebbinghaus memory curve look like? What was the scientist’s research based on? How to remember information quickly and for a long time? Answers to these questions will be useful to many readers.
Herman Ebbinghaus: A Brief Curriculum Vitae
Before considering the features of Hermann Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve, it is worth learning more about the scientist himself. He was born in January 1850 in Bremen. At the age of 17, he began to study history and philosophy at the University of Bonn, but his training was interrupted by military service during the Franco-Prussian war. Nevertheless, at the age of 23, he graduated from the university and received the title of Doctor of Science, after which he continued to study philosophy, and later on the features of the functioning of the human brain.
Memory research
The scientist began his mental experiments, the result of which is the Ebbinghaus curve, in 1879. The object of the study was German himself. He tried to investigate the laws of mechanical memorization.
The experiments were carried out in two stages (each lasted about a year) and provided for the use of cards with meaningless syllables. On each of the 2,300 cards, the scientist wrote short syllables that did not carry any meaning, for example, “hib”, “schod”, etc. Syllables were selected so as not to cause any associations and not to facilitate the memorization of individual cards, which could make error in the experimental results.
The scientist tried to remember the words on the cards, which he pulled out of the box in random order. Thus, Ebbinghaus tried to study the properties of memory, for example, measured the time it takes to forget the learned information. The scientist also set up experiments, trying to understand exactly how many repetitions of the material are needed for better memorization.
Ebbinghaus forget curve
The research results of the scientist were recognized by doctors from around the world. The Ebbinghaus memorization curve is still widely used and published in every textbook of experimental psychology. What did the scientist discover?
The German Ebbinghaus curve demonstrates that already within the first hour after an unmistakable repetition of the material (we are talking not only about cards with syllables, but also practically about all the acquired information) 60% of the data is forgotten. The scientist also proved that 10 hours after memorization, no more than 35% of the memorized information remains in memory. Further, the process slows down, but data loss continues. According to the results of the study, about 6% of the total information remains in memory 6 days after the study.
How to quickly learn the material?
After analyzing the curve, you can find that without repeating 70% of the material is forgotten during the first week. But, of course, the Ebbinghaus curve is not the only scientist to work on. He also managed to develop a scheme for effective and, most importantly - quick memorization.
In order to learn and capture the necessary information in memory, for two days you need to adhere to the following scheme:
- immediately after reading, you need to repeat the material;
- twenty minutes later, the information must be repeated again;
- after eight hours, what has been read must be remembered again;
- then you can take a break - a fourth repetition follows after 24 hours.
It is believed that such a scheme helps to avoid the loss of the bulk of the facts. By the way, the reviews of people who have tested this technique on themselves indicate that it really works. In two days you can remember almost any information, and without much difficulty.
How to remember information for a long time?
Despite the fact that the above scheme allows you to quickly learn the material, over time, information is still lost. In the process of research, Hermann Ebbinghaus also derived a formula for long-term memorization. Its scheme is as follows:
- immediately after reading the material you need to repeat it again;
- the second repetition should follow after 20-30 minutes, as in the previous version;
- The next time it is recommended to repeat the material after a day;
- after two or three weeks, the information needs to be recalled again (re-read the source or abstracts);
- after 2-3 months, the material should be repeated again.
Of course, some of the information will be lost over time, but the main data will remain in memory, and for a long time.
Edge effect
In the process of research, G. Ebbinghaus discovered a lot of interesting patterns. And one of them was called the "edge effect." What is its essence?
There is a simple example. If you read the list of words, then most likely you will remember only the first and last. Information from the middle of the list will be more difficult to remember. The scientist proved that the beginning and the end are best assimilated. For example, if you retell the text, then its beginning and ending are remembered clearly, but to memorize the middle will have to make more efforts.
By the way, this feature of the human brain works not only with lists and texts. The edge effect is actively used in intelligence and some other areas. If a person starts communication with an abstract topic, then asks about something important for him, and ends, again, talking about the little things, most likely you will remember only the beginning and end of the conversation.
Interference and its features
Interference is called mixing similar memories. If the two memories are similar, the old information will interfere with the reproduction of the new one. For example, if you change a bank card that you have used for many years, then in the first few weeks (or even months) it will be difficult for you to recall a new PIN code, as this will be hindered by old knowledge.
By the way, lawyers often use this effect, confusing witnesses with the help of incorrect, but close to the truth clues.
If you need to remember a large amount of information, then the study of similar material should be posted in time. For example, when preparing for an exam, it’s worth learning information so that questions that are different from each other follow one after another.
Other patterns
As you can see, the Ebbinghaus curve is far from the only thing that the scientist managed to create. In addition to the above-described interesting properties of memory, he managed to identify several more patterns.
For example, a scientist proved that meaningful memorization is much faster than mechanical memorization. The study included memorizing a large number of meaningless syllables and memorizing a piece of text from Byron's Don Juan. Information that makes sense is remembered about nine times faster.
It is also recommended that you memorize the entire text. For example, you should not learn a poem on stanzas - you need to read it completely.
The scientist was able to see another pattern. If you increase the number of repetitions per day, then the speed of memorization from this still does not increase. You should not re-read the same thing 20-30 times, it is unlikely that this will provide the desired effect.
It is worth paying attention to another interesting feature. If the subject knows that in the future the material that he is trying to learn will be useful to him, then memorization is much faster.
And a specialist who receives new data regarding his field of activity or knowledge remembers everything much faster, since the information received is embedded in a context that has already been formed in the consciousness. Between existing knowledge, logical relationships are formed, which allows you to remember better. A person who does not quite understand the meaning of the memorized data copes with this task much more slowly.