ABSTRACT
Scientific research of human memory began with Herman Ebbinghaus’ (1885) experimental studies of learning, forgetting and re-learning of information. Through rigorous experimentations with nonsense syllables, Ebbinghaus was the first to discover some of the basic principles of learning and forgetting and to describe the forgetting curve – the time course of forgetting. Whereas philosophers before Ebbinghaus discussed and speculated about memory, Ebbinghaus experimentally elucidated various aspects of learning and forgetting and communicated his findings to others in precise terms including figures and graphs.
