Emotions and Learning

In almost every area of cognition, emotion plays a role. Emotion strongly influences all of our mental processes, including:

• perception
• attention
• learning
• memory
• reasoning
• problem-solving

College students are often frustrated and anxious about exams, homework, and deadlines, resulting in different emotional states.  Even the subject matter itself, math, science, English, etc. can influence your emotions, that in turn enhance or impair your ability to learn and retain information.

A substantial body of research establishes that emotionally charged events are recalled more clearly and accurately, and for longer periods of time.  Emotional memories are more vivid and easily recalled than non-emotional memories, making us more adept at remembering and retrieving information when we are emotionally affected (Tyng, et al., 2017).

According to broaden-and-build theory, pleasant emotions increase the range of your attention and thoughts, which inspires exploratory ideas that boost creativity and problem-solving (Fredrickson, 2004).  Pleasant emotional experiences and activities promote academic resilience, satisfaction, and well-being (Phan et al., 2019).

Ways to Care for Yourself When Painful Emotions Arise

“Each day is strewn with little jewels.” ~ Rick Hanson

Gratitude

When you notice something positive, stay with the feeling for 30 seconds.  Feel the emotions in your whole body.  Maybe your heart feels lighter or you’re smiling. Repeat the process a half dozen times a day and you’ll feel stronger, more stable, and calmer within a few weeks. The more you can deepen and lengthen positive experiences, the longer those positivity neurons in your brain are firing – and the longer they fire, the stronger the underlying neural networks become.

Self Compassion

Regardless of whether it feels good or bad, acknowledge that you are feeling it, but refrain from making any judgments about why it happened or how it happened.  Be kind to yourself and validate what you feel.

Deep Breathing

• When people hear mindfulness, they often think of meditation.  While meditation is one method of mindfulness, there are many others that may be simpler and easier for you to practice.  Deep breathing helps lower stress and reduce anxiety, and it is simple yet very powerful.  A daily mindful breathing practice has been shown to reduce test anxiety in college students.
• A 2-4-6-8 breathing pattern (see below) is a very useful tool that can be used to help bring a sense of calm and to help mild to moderate anxiety.  It takes no time, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere. With practice, 2-4-6-8 breathing will become a useful tool for times when you experience tension or stress.

Meditation

Dan Harris, a news reporter at ABC, fell into drug use and suffered a major panic attack on national television.  Following this embarrassing period in his life, he learned to meditate and found that it made him calmer and more resilient.  He’s now on a mission to make meditation approachable to everyone.  Dan used to be a skeptic about meditation, but now says that if he learned to meditate, anyone can learn to meditate! Dan reminds us that we are going to get lost, and our mind is going to stray, and that’s okay. Simply notice when you’re lost and start over. Every time your mind strays, you start over.  It’s like a bicep curl for your brain.  Start with 3 minutes and slowly work your way up to 15 to 20 minutes.  Watch this 8-minute video if you’d like to hear more about Dan’s journey.

For a simple meditation to get started, you can try one of the videos on the Meditation YouTube Channel. There are also great meditation apps for your phone, such as Insight Timer, CALM, and Headspace.