Processing limits of selective attention and working memory: Potential implications for interpreting

This article summarizes recent research on working memory and attention, with an emphasis on one theoretical framework in which working memory and attention are intricately related (Cowan, 1988, 1995, 1999a). Within this framework, working memory is conceived as an activated portion of long-term memory and, within that activated portion, the focus of attention and control processes that direct it. The focus of attention presumably can link activated elements to form new chunks of information. Several basic phenomena are sketched out, along with their potential relevance for the process of simultaneous interpreting. Current controversies that are likely to be of relevance to interpreting also are discussed. Although the question of how interpreters meet difficult processing demands cannot be answered presently because few studies have examined interpreting, the evidence does point the way to a number of promising lines of research on interpreting that could be carried out.