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Psychology / Unit 6   Psych 0687 short lesson, about 20 seconds

The Forgetting Curve

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The idea

Ebbinghaus found that memory for new material drops sharply at first and then levels off.

In practice

Ebbinghaus reported forgetting about half of learned nonsense syllables within twenty minutes and about seventy percent within a day.

Where people slip

The curve was measured on meaningless material learned by one person. Meaningful material decays more slowly.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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