This paper aims to examine the application of the Competition Model, a functionalist model of sentence processing to the task of simultaneous interpretation. Because simultaneous interpretation places extreme temporal requirements on the basic language processing system and because it allows studying production while controlling the target message, there is good reason to think of simultaneous interpretation as an important testing ground for psycholinguistic theories. At the same time, the detailed construction of a psycholinguistic account of simultaneous interpretation could help both interpreters and teachers to think of new, more systematic ways of dealing with the capacity demands of this activity. The Competition Model could provide a useful framework for these investigations because it emphasizes the role of underlying conceptual structures as the basis for interpretation and because it deals directly with the issues of cue usage, transfer, and capacity use that are important in understanding simultaneous interpretation.