Authors' reply to "A note on 'An empirical comparison of forgetting models'"

The modeling of human learning and forgetting has justifiably received increased attention in recent years. The ability to bridge the gap between the findings of experimentalists and empiricists in this area should allow for the research community to develop ever-improving models. In their research note Jaber and Sikstrom (see ibid., vol.51, no.2, p.233-4, 2004) raise an important issue, namely the question of how well the learn-forget curve model (LFCM) can be expected to perform in practical situations. Past studies have shown a range of expectations regarding this model. From a definitive standpoint, while the present discussion may not fully resolve the question, there are significant and interesting differences between these studies, which are described below. The goal of this note is to clarify and quantify these differences in order to set a framework for continued work on the LFCM model and potentially other models in this area.