Surprise

Following initial observations by Darwin (1872), surprise is typically considered to be a basic human emotion which plays a key role in a number of cognitive phenomena including attention and learning (Foster and Keane 2015). In recent years the significance and pervasiveness of surprise has been recognized in numerous contexts, with a growing body of literature pointing to its importance in diverse disciplines including development, education, artificial intelligence, and psychology. Yet despite this burgeoning research, debate remains regarding the exact definition of surprise, partly due to the numerous factors involved in this experience