The forgetting curve

[sillysmile]

since I have had a lot of conflicting information about the  :)forgetting curve, I have neglected putting it into my psych notes. What I'm looking for with this post is some sort of consensus in regards to the rate and amount of forgetting which occurs.
thanks. 

[masonnnn]

http://stuff4educators.com/web_images/ebbinghausretentionrategraph.gif
that breaks it down really affectively.
basically we need to know that roughly 60% is lost in the first 8 hours,(rapid loss)
then there is a gradual loss for approx....a few days(not sure how exact this has to be)
and then that it basically plateaus and there is hardly any loss.

so the line = rapid(60%in8hours)--> gradual--> flat.

and also how it can be altered which i believe is it is made more affective if the learning occurs over a long period of time and if the information is very meaningful.

[ChairmanMao]

You gotta know the pattern, significant drop in % of information retained in the early, off the top of my head, I think 40% lost in 30 minutes? Then after an hour, around 50% then followed by a steady slow decline here on in

[Visionz]

Ebbinghaus forgetting curve shows the RATE and AMOUNT at which forgetting occurs.

rate of forgetting is firstly rapid then gradual then steady.

after one hour 44% of what was learned will be remembered
after 8 hours most of what will be lost will have already been lost.

We need to know 2 points on the curve and what the forgetting curve shows.