ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an essay on the nature, organization, and early emergence of emotional memories. Specifically, I focus on the understanding process that guides and regulates the formation of emotional memories. I describe the mental inferences and evaluations of an event that lead to the experience of emotion, the types of evaluations children make before they experience specific emotions, and the courses of action they choose, once they express an emotion. I focus on the role that preferences, goals, and violations of expectation play in evoking emotion and planning behavior.
