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Publication details [#63462]

Babcock, Laura. 2017. Are simultaneous interpreters expert bilinguals, unique bilinguals, or both? Bilingualism 20 (2) : 403–417.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Cambridge University Press

Annotation

Simultaneous interpretation is a cognitively demanding process that needs a high level of language management. Prior studies on bilinguals have proposed that extensive practice managing two languages leads to enhancements in cognitive control. Thus, interpreters may be awaited to display benefits beyond those seen in bilinguals, either as an expansion of prior-seen benefits or in areas specific to interpretation. This inquiry explored professional interpreters (N = 23) and matched multilinguals (N = 21) on memory tests, the color-word Stroop task, the Attention Network Test, and a non-linguistic task-switching paradigm. The interpreters did not display benefits in conflict resolution or switching cost where bilingual benefits have been noted. However, an interpretation-specific benefit appeared on the mixing cost in the task-switching paradigm. Additionally, the interpreters had larger verbal and spatial memory spans. Interpreters do not continue to collect benefits from bilingualism, but they do seem to possess benefits specific to their experience with simultaneous interpretation.