It is easy to think of the learning process as some kind of austere intellectual exercise. Not so, says a multi-authored piece entitled “The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory” published in the online Frontiers of Psychology.
In fact, the researchers quoted in the article suggest that emotion has a substantial influence on cognitive processes in humans, including perception, attention, learning, memory, reasoning and problem solving.
Emotion, they say, has a particularly strong influence on attention, especially modulating the selectivity of attention as well as motivating action and behaviour.
Several studies found positive emotions facilitate learning and contribute to academic achievement, which is facilitated by self-motivation and satisfaction with learning materials.
More specifically, say several of the researchers, emotion regulates our behavior by adjusting us to the world in certain subjective ways, steering us toward things that “feel good” while avoiding things that “feel bad.”
Subsequently, emotion guides and motivates cognition that promotes survival by guiding behavior and desires according to unique goal orientation.
Many of the studies summarized in the article refer to the use of neuroimaging techniques such as MRI or CT scans that can apparently recognize human emotional states in the brain. They have become a topic of increasing research in cognitive neuroscience, affective neuroscience, and educational psychology to optimize learning and memory outcomes.
While we accept that a spectrum of emotional experiences pervade every aspect of our lives, research now identifies emotion as an important and perhaps even critical element in academic settings.
The article cites numerous neuroimaging studies that suggest emotions influence memory processes, including memory consolidation and memory retrieval.
Emotion, say the researchers, modifies and regulates virtually every aspect of cognition. Tests, examinations, homework and deadlines are associated with different emotional states, from frustration to anxiety and boredom. Even subject matter influences emotions that affect one’s ability to learn and remember.
Based on numerous previous findings, several of the studies quoted in the article suggest that future research might take emotional factors more seriously, especially in terms of their potential impact on both teaching and learning.
Monitoring the emotional state of students can be particularly useful in the identification of emotional states that advance learning performance and outcomes in educational settings.
Substantial evidence has established that emotional events are remembered more clearly, accurately and for longer periods of time than neutral events.
But what are these academic researchers talking about when they use the word “emotion”?
Is it just a matter of feeling “good” or feeling “bad” about what our students or we are trying to learn?
Perhaps a more relevant question is: What can teachers do about student emotions as they relate to learning?
A paper published by the Baylor University Academy for Teaching and Learning addresses that question. Reinhard Pekrun, an educational researcher and professor at the University of Essex in England, suggests that the most relevant emotions in the classroom are achievement or academic emotions, including anger, pride, enjoyment, anxiety and hopelessness.
Pekrun’s theory proposes that emotions arise out of two key areas: control and value. Control refers to the degree to which students feel like they can influence outcomes or activities, while value refers to the degree to which a student feels that the learning activity is important.
Teachers, says Pekrun, can play a role here. As an example, student confidence can be boosted with feedback that is timely and explicit.
Vague feedback, on the other hand, is difficult to implement and may decrease a student’s sense of control.
“Feedback is timely,” he suggests, “when it is received by students while it still matters to them and in time to pay attention to further learning or receive further assistance.”
Other studies referenced in the Baylor paper describe how teachers can create an achievement-focused classroom atmosphere by “emphasizing learning and understanding and de-emphasizing performance, competition, and social comparison.” One way to do this, it says, is to get rid of high-stakes testing “as it can lead to anxiety and shame.”
Researchers who look at the role of emotion in learning agree on one thing. Emotions occur very rapidly, lasting only a short time.
Humans act emotionally before the conscious awareness of emotion can occur — we react before we know we are reacting. Our minds respond cognitively as the biological response for emotions reacts to the physical environment.
And the relationship between emotion and learning is not confined to school-age learners.
In his book New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, BD Perry, an American psychiatrist who is currently the senior fellow of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas, writes that “biologically, emotion affects the mind. A traumatized person in a state of alarm is less capable of concentrating, more anxious, and more attentive to nonverbal cues such as tone of voice, body posture, and facial expressions.”
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools
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