Emotional experiences are very common in nature and they are very important and perhaps even critical in academic settings, the reason being, emotion modulates virtually every aspect of cognition. Examinations, homework, test and deadlines are all related with different emotional states that embody frustration, anxiety, and boredom. Well, even subject matter influences emotions which affect one’s ability to learn and remember.
Emotions describe a complex set of interactions between subjective and objective variables that are mediated by neural and hormonal systems, which can (a) give rise to affective experiences of emotional valence (pleasure-displeasure) and emotional arousal (high-low activation/calming-arousing); (b) generate cognitive processes such as emotionally relevant perceptual affect, appraisals, labeling processes; © activate widespread psychological and physiological changes to the arousing conditions; and (d) motivate behavior that is often but not always expressive, goal-directed and adaptive.
Today, the impact of emotion on learning processes is the focus of many current studies. It is well established fact that emotions influence memory retention and recall, in terms of learning, the question of emotional impacts remains questionable. There are some studies that report that positive emotions facilitate learning and contribute to academic achievement, being mediated by the levels of self-motivation and satisfaction with learning materials. On the other hand, a recent study reported that negative learning-centered state which is confusion improve learning because of an increased focus of attention on learning material that leads to higher performances on post tests and transfer tests.
Stress which is a negative emotional state, has also been reported to facilitate both learning and memory, but depends upon intensity and duration. We can more specifically say that, mild and acute stress facilitates learning and cognitive performance, whereas excess stress or chronic stress impairs learning and is detrimental to memory performance.
What is your take on this topic?