Emotion and Cognition in Arts Education

Abstract Claims are made by educators in the arts that we have some a priori function in training emotions or feelings. What do these claims amount to? If we are saying that simply to experience those emotions is good enough, then surely we are not giving our students a full and developed emotional education. If, however, it is possible to ascertain that emotions can enhance or even stimulate cognition then we have a solid, justifiable foundation upon which to base a search for ways of training the right emotions. This paper attempts to chart one thread of the argument: how is cognition born from emotions that are effected through creating or responding to the arts. The next stage would be to examine how that enhanced cognition can be beneficial, selecting the ‘right’ emotions and thus the ‘right’ cognition. Finally, it would then be possible to assess how to teach the arts to allow this to take place.