ABSTRACT
The relation of emotion to learning and memory is a vast, complex topic. In earlier writings on the topic (e.g., Bower, 1981; Bower & Cohen, 1982; Bower & Mayer, 1989), I have concentrated almost exclusively on the “memory” part of that relationship and used only an informal, layman’s view of emotions. I advanced no particular conceptualization of what an emotion is, what taxonomies of emotions are plausible, what functions emotions might perform in a cognitive system, nor how they might be related to learning in general. Because several commentators have criticized my earlier neglect of these topics, I use this present opportunity to set forth my views on the broader issues of emotion theory before moving on to the more specialized topic of this handbook, namely, the relation of emotion to learning.
