Correct Answer - Option 4 : Memory and forgetting
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist who pioneered the development of experimental methods for the measurement of rote learning and memory. The first systematic attempt to understand the nature of forgetting was also made by Ebbinghaus.
Ebbinghaus pioneered the experimental study of memory and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect.
- In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), a German psychologist was the first person to study memory in a scientific way. Ebbinghaus conducted memory experiments on himself and the findings were found to be valid.
- He developed a system recognizing the fact that learning is always affected by prior knowledge and understanding. Ebbinghaus figured that he would need something that would be memorized easily but without prior cognitive associations.
- To investigate the nature of memory and forgetting, he memorized lists of nonsense syllables (CVC trigrams such as NOK or SEP, etc.) and then measured the number of trials he took to relearn the same list at varying time intervals. He observed that the course of forgetting follows a certain pattern.
Thus, it is concluded that Hermann Ebbinghaus developed techniques for the experimental study of memory and forgetting.
