Modern translation studies is characterized by increased attention to research on cognitive aspects of translation activity. One of the prevailing ideas of modern approaches is the desire to bring cognition beyond the limits of the human brain and consciousness and to expand the study of cognition to the level of situationally conditioned interaction with the environment and cognitive involvement of this environment. Thus, modern translational accents of cognitive research are shifted, in particular towards, equally as well as due to, situatedness and embodiment. Scholars are interested not only in what actually happens in the human brain; they seek to expand the subject matter of the issue to include all surrounding human hypostases, including experience, worldview, individual history and environment. Such a point of view is well-argued, since modern translation activity is determined by a number of factors: time limits for translation, encorporated digital tools for translation, editorial and publishing intervention, reader request, the niche that this translation is intended to fill, personal characteristics of the translator (age, gender, previous experience, intuition, creative abilities, education, talent, competence, zeal, etc.). In this context, consideration of various manifestations of the translator’s cognitive strategy, – effort, resource, stylistic characteristics, and creativity, – acquires special significance. A theoretical and critical analysis and systematization of approaches to the study of the concepts of cognitive resource, cognitive shift, judgment and evaluation performed by the translator were addressed within the scope of the topic. Cognitive resource in this paper is considered as a key component of the translator’s personal competencies and includes such components as: effort, attention, emotions, creativity, intelligence, skills, and experience. The consequence of various modifications from the perspective of the cognitive resource of the translator, to a certain extent, is a cognitive shift, which is interpreted from the perspective of creativity and appropriateness of the application. The appropriateness of the final usage will be considered by the translator at the evaluation and judgment stage. Within the scope of the investigation, we managed to outline the current state of the study of cognitive phenomena from the viewpoint of translator’s creative and intellectual efforts, emphasizing the attempt to comprehend the idea of cognitive process and the acquisition of experience expressed in the cognitive aspects of translation activity.