Dissertation in Translation Studies. Aleksandra Adler: Cognitive Load in Dialogue Interpreting
Thesis defence
Date: Friday 17 November 2023
Time: 14.00 – 16.00
Location: Auditorium 11, building F, floor 3, Södra huset, Frescati
Aleksandra Adler will publicly defend her thesis in Translation Studies: Cognitive load in dialogue interpreting. Experience and directionality. The defence is public and free of charge and is held in English. The Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies, Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism at Stockholm University.
Respondent
Opponent
Professor Agnieszka Chmiel, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland
Language
The public defence will be held in English.
About the public defence on our Swedish site
Disputation i Översättningsvetenskap. Aleksandra Adler: Kognitiv belastning i dialogtolkning
The dissertation in publication database DiVA
Cognitive load in dialogue interpreting. Experience and directionality
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the effect of experience and language direction on cognitive load in dialogue interpreting. The general objective of the study is to contribute to a better understanding of cognitive processes involved in dialogue interpreting. The present inquiry employs a multi- and mixed- method design and seeks to investigate disfluency measures as indicators of cognitive load in dialogue interpreting. Furthermore, the study aims to explore whether blink-based measures are sensitive to changes in cognitive load of dialogue interpreters.
The present study is positioned within cognitive translation and interpreting studies (CTIS) and employs cognitive translatology as a framework, encompassing both cognitive and psycholinguistic approaches to translation and interpreting. Chen’s multidimensional theoretical construct of cognitive load in interpreting is explored in the study and remodeled to fit the context of dialogue interpreting and the assumptions of cognitive translatology. The data were collected from 17 dialogue interpreters during simulated interpreted encounters that recreated a situation commonly arising in a public service context in Sweden. The 10 inexperienced and 7 experienced interpreters all had Swedish as their working language, and the other working languages were French, Polish, and Spanish. Following the revised cognitive load model, the analyses of cognitive load focus on interpreter characteristics (interpreting experience) and on task and environmental characteristics (directionality).
The results of analyses show that, in line with previous research, both interpreting experience and directionality modulate cognitive load of dialogue interpreters. Specifically, interpreting experience is demonstrated to attenuate cognitive load. In terms of directionality, interpreting into L2 is shown to be more cognitively demanding than interpreting into L1. Moreover, blink rate and blink rate variability (BRV) are explored as possible indicators of cognitive load. The analyses of blink measures suggest that no meaningful relationship can be found between blink measures and cognitive load. Finally, the complementary analyses of disfluency types in the utterances of the Polish interpreters (n=4) point to multifunctionality of disfluency in dialogue interpreting and to the multiple origins of cognitive load in interpreting dialogues. The analysis is performed from the perspective of the functional-cognitive view of disfluency proposed in the dissertation, whereby three disfluency context categories are identified and applied (cognitive-monitoring, cognitive-pragmatic, and cognitive-processing). Lexical access and rendition planning are identified as recurrent causes of cognitive load in dialogue interpreting.
The study also makes theoretical and methodological contributions, primarily by revising the theoretical model of cognitive load in interpreting, which allows for operationalization of cognitive load with additional measures, in both experimental and naturalistic settings. Practical implications are a contribution to the understanding of the challenges interpreting into L2, and the impact of interpreters’ experience on interpreting. Overall, the study contributes to the emerging cognitive profile of dialogue interpreters.
Find your way
Auditorium 11, on floor 3 in building F, Södra huset in Frescati. It is the light blue high-rise building on the
- far left, if you come from the metro (T)
- far right, if you come by bus to bus stop Universitetsvägen by the Student House ("Studenthuset") or by car to the Auto Park Södra parkeringen.
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Last updated: October 30, 2023
Source: Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies