Ebbinghaus

Hermann Ebbinghaus (January 17, 1850 – February 26, 1909) was a German psychologist who pioneered experimental research on human memory. Born in Barmen, Prussia (now part of Wuppertal), he established memory as a measurable phenomenon and helped found the experimental psychology of cognition.

Ebbinghaus conducted self-experiments using lists of meaningless syllables, or “nonsense syllables,” to minimize prior knowledge and associations. He developed the method of savings to quantify relearning: the amount of time or number of repetitions saved when relearning after a delay compared with the initial learning. He plotted retention and relearning over time to create systematic curves that could be analyzed statistically.

Key concepts associated with his work include the forgetting curve, which shows rapid loss of information soon after learning followed by a slower decline; and the spacing or repetition effect, which demonstrates that distributed practice improves long-term retention. His findings demonstrated that memory could be studied under controlled, repeatable conditions rather than relying solely on introspection.

Publication and impact: In 1885 he published Über das Gedächtnis (On Memory), laying the groundwork for memory research within experimental psychology. His methods and results challenged earlier reliance on subjective reporting and influenced subsequent research in learning and cognitive psychology. The apparatus and concepts he introduced, including the forgetting curve and savings, remain foundational in the study of memory and education. Ebbinghaus died in Halle an der Saale, Germany, leaving a lasting imprint on psychological science.