How emotions affect attention, learning and memory?

1.Introduction:

Ever wondered what happens when we hear a song and we seem to get carried away by our emotions. We recollect our past memories and we selectively focus only on the song being played.

Emotions force us to select and focus our attention on some aspects of a particular situation. When we select where to pay attention, we tend to choose more relevant things which need to be focused upon. Emotions help us recall various memories which have seriously impacted our lives in a positive or negative manner.

A study by Um. and colleagues has shown that learning and memory are influenced by emotions (Um. Et al, 2012). Many studies have shown that emotional experiences are remembered more accurately over time.

We all know that we will face difficult times at some point of time but we start feeling stressed when we see some upcoming situation as difficult and hard to manage. For example, when we hear our exam dates or the deadlines for our project work, we experience different emotional states such as frustration, anxiety, and boredom.

We pay more attention to things/people/situations which trigger strong emotions than ones’ which don’t trigger emotions. (Schupp et al., 2007).

One question that’s pops up in our mind is why do we get so emotional while seeing some things/some people or while being in a particular situation. The simple reason is that we re-live our past experiences and our past memories flash through our eyes. These memories may or may not be pleasurable. When we recollect these memories, we feel emotional and we tend to ignore the whole world around us. It feels like we are re-visiting our past because of coming into contact with something which has played a significant role in our everyday lives or because of coming into contact with someone who has been very important in our lives or getting into some situation that has impacted our life in a crucial manner.

2. How emotions affect our attention?

When we are in an emotional frame of mind, we become biased in the manner in which we focus and we pay all our attention to that specific thing/person/situation which has triggered our emotions. We all must have experienced various instances where we attend to certain things and ignore the rest of the world because emotionally attractive things capture our attention.

3. Why are we so selective while deciding where to pay attention and where not to?

The answer lies in the fact that we cannot process everything we can see/smell/hear/taste/touch. This is because we are not robots, we are humans with some sensory limitations. There are many neurological studies which have shown that our brain is wired in such a manner that we tend to avoid situation which cause an outburst of fear and anger within us because of evolutionary memories which force us to focus solely on survival.

In 2001, Ohman and his colleagues did one experiment and found that anything which triggers our emotions, has a “pop-out” effect which forces us to pay attention to it. (Ohman, 2001)

In 2005, Vuilleumier has shown that emotions can cause changes in neural activities in the Brain which makes us pay attention selectively. Vuilleumier confirmed the influence of emotions on attention. (Vuilleumier, 2005)

4. What are the differences between mood and emotion?

When I am talking about us becoming emotional, I am not talking about mood. Mood always lasts for a longer period of time than emotions. Mood has a long lasting effect whereas emotions have a momentary effect on our thoughts and behaviours. Emotions overpower us for some time but they are so powerful that you feel different positive or negative emotions. When your emotional self overpowers you in the present, you don’t seem to have any control over the flow of memories in your mind and the fixing of attention on that particular thing/person/situation.

5. Discussing the influence of confusion on attention and learning:

We all feel confused from one point of time to another. Even though confusion is not an emotion, it still plays a major role in our decision of paying attention on one particular thing/person /situation. A study conducted in 2014 showed that confusion may improve learning because of an increased focus of attention on learning material that may lead to higher performances. (D’Mello et al., 2014).

6. How Stress affects our Attention and Memory?

Stress can be positive (eu-stress) or negative (di-stress).

Both types of stress have immense impact on our ability to pay attention and recollect memories. Stress plays a major role in determining the functioning of our attentional and memory-related processes in the mind. Mild and acute stress improves learning and recall of memories but if this stress becomes excessive and chronic, it reduces our power to learn and recall memories. This means that if stress is for a short period of time, then it might have positive effects on attention and memory. On the other hand, if stress persists for a long period of time, it can have severe consequences by negatively impacting our attention and memory.

Example of mild stress would be examination stress which goes away once the exam gets over. The effect of this mild exam stress gets exaggerated because of parental pressure. This is well portrayed in the digital film campaign started by PepsiCo India in 2017, titled “Release the pressure”.

Example of excessive stress would be loss of a loved one (family/friend). This can be seen in the Harry Potter movies where he undergoes a lot of emotional turmoil after the death of his parents.

7. Conclusion:

We explored influence of emotions on attention and memory. It is important to acknowledge the fact that the effect of  positive emotions is opposite to that of negative emotions.

Studies have shown that positive emotions may improve learning and increase one’s academic achievement. (Um et al., 2012). Hence, we should focus on experiencing positive emotions again and again.

We also understand the fact that anything that triggers our emotions has a strong impact on our focus of attention and our memories.

8. Important links to understand emotions effect on attention, learning and memory:

Types of Basic Emotions and Their Effect on Human Behaviour https://buddingpsychologists.org/types-of-basic-emotions-and-their-effect-on-human-behaviour/

MOTIVATION- THE BASIS OF HUMAN EXCELLENCE. https://buddingpsychologists.org/motivation-the-basis-of-human-excellence/

Factors Influencing Learning in Children https://buddingpsychologists.org/factors-influencing-learning-in-children/

9. References :

Öhman, A., Flykt, A., and Esteves, F. (2001). Emotion drives attention: detecting the snake in the grass. J. Exp. Psychol. 130, 466–478. Doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.466

Schupp, H. T., Stockburger, J., Codispoti, M., Junghöfer, M., Weike, A. I., and Hamm, A. O. (2007). Selective visual attention to emotion. J. Neurosci. 27, 1082–1089. Doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3223-06.2007

Um, E., Plass, J. L., Hayward, E. O., and Homer, B. D. (2012). Emotional design in multimedia learning. J. Educ. Psychol. 104, 485–498. Doi: 10.1037/a0026609

Vuilleumier, P. (2005). How brains beware: neural mechanisms of emotional attention. Trends Cogn. Sci. 9, 585–594. Doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.10.011