ABSTRACT
One of the most respected and influential figures in the study of memory is that
of a German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus. Ebbinghaus (1885/1964) took
a particular interest in memory in its purest form, and conducted his work
through highly controlled experiments. These experiments were carefully
designed to remove as many influencing variables to learning and recall as
possible. Ebbinghaus conducted the experiments on himself, and his research
involved ‘memorising long lists of nonsense syllables’ (Bourtchouladze, 2002,
p8), to enable him to monitor his own ability to learn and recall.
