Abstract
We quantified the electroencephalogram signals associated with the selective attention processing of experienced simultaneous interpreters and calculated the phase-locked responses evoked by a 40-Hz auditory steady-state response (40-Hz ASSR) and the values of robust inter-trial coherence (ITC) for environmental changes. Since we assumed that an interpreter's attention ability improves with an increase in the number of years of experience of simultaneous interpretation, we divided the participants into two groups based on their simultaneous interpretation experience: experts with more than 15 years of experience (E group; n = 7) and beginners with <1 year (B group; n = 15). We also compared two conditions: simultaneous interpretation (SI) and shadowing (SH). We found a significant interaction in the ITC between years of SI experience (E and B groups) and tasks (SI and SH). This result demonstrates that the number of years of SI experience influences selective attention during interpretation.
Highlights
Simultaneous interpretation (SI), which is called extreme multitasking (Cowan, 1999; CamaydFreixas, 2011), requires interpretation at the same speed as a speaker’s utterances
We identified no significant differences of subjective evaluation values between the groups for Question 5 (q5: p = 0.23; Figure 4)
We identified a significant interaction in the inter-trial coherence (ITC) between years of simultaneous interpretation (SI) experience (E and B groups) and tasks (SI and SH)
Summary
Simultaneous interpretation (SI), which is called extreme multitasking (Cowan, 1999; CamaydFreixas, 2011), requires interpretation at the same speed as a speaker’s utterances. In SI, the utterance begins before the current interpretation is finished. SI and its cognitive mechanism focus on how simultaneous interpreters overcome their cognitive load (Gile, 1999; Cowan, 2000; Mizuno, 2005). Recent reports argue that as a person gains SI experience, his/her overall cognitive function improves, which changes the brain functions and structures (Rinne et al, 2000; Elmer et al, 2011; Hervais-Adelman et al, 2015; Elmer and Kühnis, 2016; Van de Putte et al, 2018). Brain mechanisms are attracting research attention because they offer new possibilities for training methods that might improve human cognitive functions.
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