Hermann Ebbinghaus

[Ready for Fall 2026]

Modified: 2026-08-03 6:48 PM CDST

• Ebbinghaus was the first person to study memory scientifically.
  • The story of how he was inspired to study memory is interesting.
  • Late in the nineteenth century, Ebbinghaus was browsing through books in a Parisian bookstore (some sources say London) and he came across a copy of Fechner's (Recall him?) Elemente.
  • After he read it, he determined to apply Fechner's ideas to the study of memory and forgetting.

• He invented the nonsense syllable or CVC (for Consonant Vowel Consonant).
  • The nonsense syllable cannot also be a word, obviously. CAT is not a nonsense syllable even though it is a CVC.
  • He also invented the relearning method of measuring memory. He used nonsense syllables precisely because they were difficult to remember and easy to forget because they had very little intrinsic meaning.
• Some have called Ebbinghaus's approach the "high road" to memory, or the study of pure memory, little affected by content (although, during his lifetime his research was considered content laden.).
  • Modern approaches to memory, by the way, are more likely to take the "low road" or to study memory in natural situations, where content is included.
  • Much of Ebbinghaus's data are still current today, a remarkable achievement.
  • This graphic shows the basic pattern of forgetting that Ebbinghaus discovered which has been reconfirmed many times since.
    • It shows that most forgetting takes place soon after learning.
  • Above I said that the "high road" studies memory with little influence from content.
  • It is not possible to study memory with NO influence from content because even nonsense syllables are affected by content.
    • In research today, one can control for the effect above by using easy or hard lists of nonsense syllables.
    • Those lists have been derived from other research.