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Article published In:
Developments in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies
Edited by Kairong Xiao and Sandra L. Halverson
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies 8:2] 2021
► pp. 404–439
Critical reviews on methodology

Stress, cognitive, emotional and ergonomic demands in interpreting and translation

A review of physiological studies

ORCID logo | Zurich University of Applied Sciences
ORCID logo | Zurich University of Applied Sciences
ORCID logo | Zurich University of Applied Sciences

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for modulating peripheral functions in the human body and consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Its activation affects, among other things, heart rate, respiratory rate, salivation, perspiration, pupillary dilation, and blink rate. For some years now, physiological measurements have found their way into interpreting and translation studies to investigate, in particular, cognitive, emotional and ergonomic demands and stress in translating, interpreting and post-editing. We conducted a meta-review of publications from 1990 until 2020 in order to investigate the relevance of (a) the four constructs of emotional, cognitive and ergonomic demands and physiological stress and of (b) physiological data for translation and interpreting research. With our selection of search terms, we identified 369 publications investigating one of the four constructs, of which 28 use physiological data. Analysis of the 28 studies shows a tendency towards triangulating physiological with other types of data, which reflects the complexity of the investigated tasks and constructs. Moreover, there seems to be an effort to increase sample size, which is an important step towards more robust results in quantitative research in the field.

Keywords: meta-review, physiology, emotion, ergonomics, stress, cognitive demands, translation, interpreting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Adaptive responses and the measurement of physiological correlates
    • 1.2Emotional demands
    • 1.3Different types of stress
    • 1.4Cognitive demands
    • 1.5Ergonomic demands
  • 2.Physiological data in interpreting and translation studies
    • 2.1Research questions and scope of the review
    • 2.2Methodology
      • 2.2.1Inclusion criteria and categorization
      • 2.2.2Identification of physiological studies
    • 2.3Sample description
    • 2.4Results
    • 2.5Physiological studies in interpreting studies
    • 2.6Physiological studies in translation studies
  • 3.Potentials and limitations of physiological data in T&I studies
  • 4.Some methodological notes
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 22 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00084.gie
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