This report discusses the role of affect in cognitive processing. The importance of affect in processing mathematical information is described in the context of solving arithmetic story problems. Some ideas are offered about the way affective responses to mathematical problem solving situations influence the development, maintenance, and retrieval of information stored in human memory. A model of human memory based on schema knowledge structures is outlined. A way that affective information may be stored within a schema is suggested. The report concludes with a discussion of some affective responses to mathematics evidenced by students' comments as they worked with story problems. (PK)