Rehearsal and the forgetting curve: WACE Year 12 Psychology Unit 3

What this dot point is asking

The syllabus names two types of rehearsal and Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve. Expect to define and compare the rehearsal types, apply them to study techniques, describe or sketch the forgetting curve, and explain what it implies about when and how often to review.

Maintenance rehearsal

Maintenance rehearsal is repeating information over and over in the same form, usually silently or aloud, like repeating a phone number until you dial it.

• It keeps information active in short-term memory for as long as the rehearsal continues.
• It involves shallow processing, so it is not an efficient way to create lasting long-term memories.
• It is useful for information you only need briefly.

Elaborative rehearsal

Elaborative rehearsal is linking new information to existing knowledge and focusing on its meaning, for example by explaining it in your own words, creating examples, or connecting it to your own experience.

• It involves deep (semantic) processing, consistent with the levels of processing model.
• The links it creates act as retrieval cues, making the information easier to recall later.
• It is the more effective strategy for long-term learning.

Ebbinghaus and the forgetting curve (1885)

Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to study memory experimentally. Using himself as the participant, he learned lists of nonsense syllables (such as DAX or BOK, which have no prior meaning) until he could recite them perfectly, then measured how much time he saved when he relearned the same lists after delays ranging from 20 minutes to a month (the savings method, see recall, recognition and relearning).

The forgetting curve.

• Forgetting is rapid at first: a large amount is lost within the first hour.
• The rate of forgetting then slows, and the curve levels off.
• Some information is retained even after a month.

The role of repetition.

• The more times a list was repeated during the original learning, the more was saved when it was relearned.
• Reviewing material soon after learning, before most is forgotten, is efficient, and each review makes the next relearning faster and flattens the curve.
• Repetitions spread out over several days were more effective than the same number massed into one session.

Limitations. The research used a single participant (Ebbinghaus himself), so it cannot be generalised with confidence. Nonsense syllables lack meaning, so real, meaningful material is usually forgotten more slowly.