The speed of forgetting. In 1885,
Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered exponential
? nature of
forgetting. We can roughly describe forgetting with R=
e(-S t) where
R is [memory retention]
?,
S is relative
strength of memory and
t is
time. For this reason,
strength of memory (S) is the best way to represent the forgetting rate. If you learn a foreign word today, in most cases, you stand only 90% chance to remember it after several days. Rate of forgetting decreases after each
repetition, esp. if the repetition is made at the "right" time