Forgetting Curve – Psychology Notes – For W.B.C.S. Examination.

মনোবিজ্ঞান নোট – ভোল্টিং কার্ভ – WBCS পরীক্ষা।

In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus did this exact experiment – and his results are widely accepted as a general theory for how we learn and retain information.  Graphing his results, he developed a formula for how long items remain in our memory. Some people may remember better than others, but the general trend for how long we retain information is the same.Continue Reading Forgetting Curve – Psychology Notes – For W.B.C.S. Examination.

The resulting graph is called Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve. The bads news is, it’s steeper than you may think.  The good news is, there are strategies you can use to improve your memory retention.

According to Ebbinghaus, the level at which we retain information depends on a couple of things:

• The strength of your memory
• The amount of time that has passed since learning

The shape of the curve is defined by the following equation: (Warning: math ahead!) Retention = e ^ -(Time/Strength of Memory)

It’s easier to see in a graph:

Keep in mind, your unique memory strength will determine whether you retain half the information for 3 weeks (as in the graph above) or more, or less. Depending on what you’ve learned, especially classroom style, I’ve read estimates that say we forget 90% within the first month – or even first week!

How Can We Retain More?

There are two primary factors that affect our level of retention for items in our long term memory:

• Repetition
• Quality of memory representation

Repetition is easy enough – the more frequently we repeat something, the more likely it is to stick.  For this reason, one suggestion given to improve memory retention when taking a class is to review your notes and classwork regularly.  Research has shown that reviewing at regular intervals does increase retention and that over time, less frequent review is needed.

Below is how the graph looks if you review what you learn once after two weeks, or twice – after 2 weeks, and then after a month:

The takeaway from the graph above is this:  frequent review can help retention, but over time, we still tend to forget what we’ve learned.  This is why reviewing and cramming for exams can provide dividends in the short term – only to lead to you forgetting everything you had quickly learned/memorized immediately after.

There is one caveat though:  one aspect that can increase retention (and that is not accounted for in the graph above) is that vague phrase mentioned above – quality of memory representation.  There’s also some debate about how much retention is affected based on how meaningful the information is.

So, how does this graph change with the quality of memory representation?

Quality of Memory Representation and Meaning

A better approach for long term retention is to focus on the quality of the information represented in memory and the meaning of the information to you.  In plain English – the more relevant, meaningful connections you can make with the new information in your mind with things you already know, the better your memory retention over time.  As this is much more difficult to graph, let me sum it up like this:

• If you learn something, and it is important to you, and you can connect it with many things you already know, your memory retention will be very high
• If you learn something, and it is not important to you, and you do not connect it with anything you already know, you will have poor retention and require regular repetition (as in the graph above)

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