During the late 1800's a new science was emerging in Europe. Psychology's roots
can be traced back to Germany and a man by the name of William Wunt. Following
Wunt other psychologists began emerging in different fields. Of these pioneers Herman
Ebbinghaus was one, and his field of study was memory. He performed the first
experiments in 1885 in Germany and the following is a background on the man and his
Herman Ebbinghaus was born in 1850 in Germany and died there in 1909. He
received his formal education at the Universities of Bonn, Halle, and Berlin (Gale, 1996).
Ebbinghaus received degrees in philosophy and history from these universities (Gale,
1996). Ebbinghaus went on to teach at the Universities of Berlin, Poland, Breslaw and
Halle (Gale, 1996). These experiences combined with later experiences with memory
combine to give Ebbinghaus a curiosity about memory greater than most of his time.
Memory can be defined as your amount of learning or your stored information.
The process of storing and retreving information from the brain that is central to learning
and thinking (Microsoft Encarta, [MSE], 1997). According to Myers (1998) memory is
"any indication that learning has persisted over time". There are also four types of
memory classified: recollection, recall, recognition, and relearning. Recollection is the
reconstruction of facts based on clues that serve as reminders; recall is the active
remembering of something from the past without help; recognition is the ability to
identify previous stimuli as familiar; relearning is material that seems to be easier to
remember than others as if it has been learned before (MSE, 1997). These four types of
memory together help all people to remember anything from the states' capitals to your
best friends birthday party from second grade. Some researchers say that there are
specific sites dedicated to memory while others say that a...