同声传译与工作记忆关系的批评分析

A Critical Analysis of the Relationship between Simultaneous Interpretation and Working Memory

同声传译与工作记忆的关系实际上涉及横向比较和纵向比较两个问题,即,(1)同传译员相对于非同传译员是否具有工作记忆的优势?(2)同传译员是否因为训练或实践而使得工作记忆得以提升?针对第一个问题,目前存在矛盾的实验数据,究其原因,是没有认识到工作记忆与其它认知机制的复杂关联性,以及缺乏控制被试相关因素,以至于实验结果不能全面反映工作记忆、缺乏客观性。要验证专业同传译员是否具有工作记忆的相对优势,必须运用多种实验范式,尽可能涵盖与工作记忆相联系的其它认知机制,同时,控制被试的相关因素。对于第二个问题,已有的研究成果提供了支持证据。

The relationship between simultaneous interpretation and working memory actually involves two issues of latitudinal and longitudinal comparison： （ 1 ） Do simultaneous interpreters have working memory advantage over non-interpreters？ （2） Can simultaneous interpreters have their working memory enhanced due to their training or practice？ Regarding the first issue, available experimental data are contradictory. The reason lies in the failure to realize complicated relations of working memory to other cognitive mechanisms and to control subject-related factors, so that experimental results fail to reflect the whole picture of working memory, and lack objectivity. To verify that professional simultaneous interpreters have working memory advantages, it is necessary to adopt a variety of experimental paradigms so as to cover as many associations that working memory has with other cognitive mechanisms as possible, and to control subject-related factors at the same time. Concerning the second issue, available research results have provided supporting evidence.