Chapter 02 of 5
The Forgetting Curve
The man who measured his own forgetting — and what he found.
- The Question
Can forgetting be measured?
In the 1880s, most people thought memory was too mysterious to study scientifically. Hermann Ebbinghaus set out to prove them wrong.
- The Subject
An experiment of one
Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, used the only subject available for thousands of tests: himself.
- The Method
Nonsense syllables
He memorised lists of meaningless syllables like 'DAX' or 'BOK', so that existing knowledge couldn't help him.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
How did Ebbinghaus measure how much of a list he still remembered?
🧩 How Memory Works (and Fails)
- 01The Man Who Couldn't Make MemoriesOne patient's surgery revealed where new memories are made.
- 02The Forgetting CurveThe man who measured his own forgetting — and what he found.
- 03Why Spacing WorksThe science of remembering for good — and why cramming fails.
- 04Memories That Never HappenedWhy vivid, confident memories can still be wrong.
- 05The Memory PalaceAn ancient trick that lets ordinary people remember extraordinary amounts.