Emotions in simulation-based education: friends or foes of learning?

In simulation-based education, there is growing interest in the effects of emotions on learning from simulation sessions. The perception that emotions have an important impact on performance and learning is supported by the literature. Emotions are pervasive: at any given moment, individuals are in one emotional state or another. Emotions are also powerful: they guide ongoing cognitive processes in order to direct attention, memory and judgment towards addressing the stimulus that triggers the emotion. This occurs in a predictable way. The purpose of this paper is to present a narrative overview of the research on emotions, cognitive processes and learning, in order to inform the simulation community of the potential role of emotions during simulation-based education.