The savings effect

The German scientist and psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus coined the term savings or savings-effect during his studies of memorizing nonsensical word lists. The words he memorized were three letter words such as “WID”, “KEF” etc. which did not have any meaning and did not allude to any known word. He used those words to establish a base line of the memorizing and retention capacity of the human brain. He established concepts of the learning curve and the forgetting curve.

During his experiments he discovered following peculiar but very beneficial fact: He first memorized a list of nonsense words until he had a perfect recall. Then he just let the words slip. He would not consciously make any effort to repeat or remember them. After a long retention interval he tested himself if he still could recall the sequence and if the sequence would look familiar at all. If both test were negative he concluded that the memory of his learning efforts would have faded.

He then attempted to re-learn the sequence in order to investigate how much time it would take. To his astonishment it took less time than the first time although the sequence looked as unknown as any other to him. Ebbinghaus called this behavior savings effect. He compared the number of repetitions it took him to memorize the list the second time to the number of repetitions the first time. The percent savings is the ratio between the second and the first time. So a 50% savings would mean that it took him only half the number of repetitions to re-memorize the list of nonsensical words the second time.

Ebbinghaus explained his interesting finding with the fact that forgetting apparently happens in several phases. The first phase is conscious forgetting – where we loose the ability to recall consciously what we have learned. The second phase is the unconscious forgetting, which takes much longer.

For your learning progress this is very positive: even if you have (consciously) forgotten most of your study material, due to the savings effect you will be able to relearn the material in a much shorter time. However this time you have to invest is still quite significant. Why would you let such a thing happen at all, if you have the possibility to repeat the material just before you forget it? The time investment is minimal and the benefits you get from repeating just at the right time are maximal. You retain all the knowledge, which you have studied and worked so hard for without ever forgetting.

Flashcard Learner is a flashcard software which uses the principle of spaced repetition to calculate exactly when you need to repeat your study material before it slips away from your ability of conscious recall.

Try Flashcard Learner and stop forgetting. It’s the smart way to learn and repeat. Because your time is precious.