Though previous research has shown a decreased sensitivity to emotionally-laden linguistic stimuli presented in the non-native (L2) compared to the native language (L1), studies conducted thus far have not examined how different modalities influence bilingual emotional language processing. The present experiment was therefore aimed at investigating how late proficient Polish (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals process emotionally-laden narratives presented in L1 and L2, in the visual and auditory modality. To this aim, we employed the galvanic skin response (GSR) method and a self-report measure (Polish adaptation of the PANAS questionnaire). The GSR findings showed a reduced galvanic skin response to L2 relative to L1, thus suggesting a decreased reactivity to emotional stimuli in L2. Additionally, we observed a more pronounced skin conductance level to visual than auditory stimuli, yet only in L1, which might be accounted for by a self-reference effect that may have been modulated by both language and modality.
This paper presents an eye-tracking study in which number processing in simultaneous interpreting was investigated. Interpreting accuracy and eye behaviour were studied together to unveil the processing and rendering of numbers by interpreting trainees (N = 22) and professional interpreters (N = 26). While professional interpreters rendered numerals and the context in which they appeared with better accuracy, there was also a positive correlation between number interpreting accuracy and context interpreting accuracy. Our results indicate that interpreting arithmetic values of numerals is more cognitively demanding than interpreting their context, which is reflected in longer mean fixation duration on numbers than on the elements they referred to. Further research is needed to investigate numerical data processing in other tasks, involving other language pairs and interpreting directionality. The study outcomes may be a useful contribution to research on the cognitive aspects of simultaneous interpreting, numerical data processing, as well as interpreter training.
An experimental study was conducted to examine whether simultaneous interpreters
are affected by the speaker’s emotions. To this end, two measures of emotion
were used: galvanic skin response (GSR) as a marker of emotional arousal, and
SUPIN – the Polish adaptation of PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule).
A group of interpreters with Polish as their A language and English as their B
language (N = 20) took part in the experiment. They were asked
to simultaneously interpret two speeches (recordings accompanied by video) from
Polish into English: a neutral speech and an emotional speech. The results show
that the interpreters are indeed affected by the speaker’s emotions, which is
reflected in both a greater galvanic skin response and higher SUPIN scores for
the emotional speech, when compared to the neutral speech and baseline values.
The results may shed new light on the importance of emotion processing in
simultaneous interpreting.
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