Translation Studies (TS), the young academic discipline which has developed around research on translation and interpreting, spans a remarkably wide spectrum of approaches, theories and research methods. The collection Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting highlights the input of psycholinguistics and cognitive science to TS through a scrutiny of recent findings and current theories and research. This introduction gives a historical and contextual background to gain a better overall perspective and view of where and how the articles in Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting fit in the wider framework of past and present TS.