Research project The interpreting brain: language control and cognitive mechanisms of multilingualism
The project aims to investigate whether many years of interpreting experience enhance language control in the multilingual brain.
The starting point for the project is the idea that routine, rapid shifts between languages make it less demanding for interpreters to manage two languages in the brain compared to bilingual individuals without any interpreting experience.
Yet, most interpreters have a stronger and a weaker working language, meaning their language skills are often asymmetrical. It is therefore possible that switching between languages could be more demanding for interpreters precisely because of their asymmetrical language proficiency.
Project description
I want to find out whether years of interpreting experience improve the control of multiple languages in the multilingual brain. To answer this question, I will ask professional interpreters in the public sector and bilingual individuals without interpreting experience to complete various tasks.
Among other things, the participants will describe images and translate words between Swedish and their other languages. By measuring the accuracy and speed of their responses while their brains are observed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), I hope to gain insight into how interpreting affects brain function in the networks responsible for language, as well as working memory, attention, and planning.
Project members
Project managers
Aleksandra Adler
Postdoc
More about this project
The project is funded by Anna Ahlströms och Ellen Terserus stiftelse (DNR: 2025-01864-01).