The article covers research on the selection of interpreters, carried out by the author at the Polytechnic of Central London. By weighing the retention scores obtained by interpreters following four tasks, it would appear that deeper processing of incoming material occurs during listening and consecutive interpretation, followed by simultaneous interpretation and lastly, by shadowing. These findings, when followed by further research, may have important implications for future training of conference interpreters for increasing reading proficiency, for improving studying techniques, language teaching techniques, the use of audio-visual means of presentation.