The Impact of Audio-Visual Speech Input on Work-Load in Simultaneous Interpreting
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The impact of audio-visual speech input on work-load in simultaneous interpreting Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Akademischen Grades eines Dr. phil., vorgelegt dem Fachbereich Translations-, Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft (06) der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz von Anne Catherine Gieshoff aus Siegburg Universität Mainz 2018 Tag des Prüfungskolloquiums: 13. Juni 2018 Thanks to the supervisors for their valuable advice, The team of the Division of English linguistics and translation studies for their precious help with the experiments, to the students participating at the experiment, to my “speaker” who lent his voice to my experiments, to my partner and friends for their critical thinking and support during all stages of this endeavor. Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................... 1 0 Introduction .......................................................................................... 5 1 Simultaneous interpreting – a multimodal task .................................... 6 1.1 Interpreting and translating ........................................................... 7 1.2 The importance of visual information in simultaneous interpreting 10 1.3 Simultaneous interpreting: a complex task .................................. 13 2 Cognitive processing of stimuli .......................................................... 17 2.1 Vision .......................................................................................... 17 2.1.1 The physiology of the eye ..................................................... 18 2.1.2 Visual processing beyond the retina ..................................... 19 2.1.3 Pupillary reflexes .................................................................. 21 2.2 Audition ....................................................................................... 23 2.2.1 The physiology of the ear ..................................................... 24 2.2.2 Processing of auditory stimuli ............................................... 25 2.2.3 Interactions of multiple auditory streams .............................. 27 2.3 Audio-visual stimuli ..................................................................... 29 2.3.1 Multisensory binding: facilitated response for multimodal stimuli 29 2.3.2 The superior colliculus: detecting temporal and spatial congruence ........................................................................................ 33 2.3.3 The superior temporal sulcus: ensuring semantic congruence 36 2.3.4 Feedback-mechanisms and further integration sites ............ 37 2.3.5 Processing of audio-visual speech ....................................... 38 2.4 Multimodal input in simultaneous interpreting ............................. 42 2.4.1 Types of visual input in simultaneous interpreting ................ 43 2.4.2 Studies on visual information in simultaneous interpreting ... 47 3 Cognitive load and mental effort ........................................................ 50 3.1 Models of working memory ......................................................... 51 3.2 Models of cognitive load .............................................................. 55 3.2.1 Kahnemann’s capacity model of attention ............................ 55 3.2.2 Sweller’s cognitive load theory ............................................. 58 3.2.3 Wickens’ model of task interference ..................................... 62 3.2.4 Lavie’s load theory of selective attention and cognitive control 64 3.2.5 Barrouillet’s time-based resource sharing model .................. 66 3.2.6 Cognitive load versus mental effort ...................................... 68 3.3 Mental effort and cognitive load in simultaneous interpreting ...... 70 3.3.1 Gile’s effort model ................................................................. 70 3.3.2 Seeber’s model of cognitive load .......................................... 71 3.3.3 Visual information as a load factor in simultaneous interpreting ......................................................................................... 74 3.3.4 Noise as load factor in simultaneous interpreting ................. 76 3.3.5 Effects of visual input and noise: predictions from psychological and interpreting research ............................................ 79 3.4 Measuring work-load ................................................................... 81 3.4.1 Subjective ratings ................................................................. 82 3.4.2 Performance ......................................................................... 85 3.4.3 Physiological measures ........................................................ 90 4 Method and results ............................................................................ 98 4.1 Aims and general approach ........................................................ 98 4.2 Pilot study ................................................................................. 102 4.2.1 Experimental material used in the pilot study ..................... 102 4.2.2 Participants of the pilot study .............................................. 104 4.2.3 Apparatus used in the pilot study........................................ 105 4.2.4 Procedure of the pilot study ................................................ 106 4.2.5 Data preparation and results of the pilot study ................... 107 4.2.6 Discussion of the pilot study’s results ................................. 111 4.3 Main study ................................................................................. 117 4.3.1 Experimental material used in the main study .................... 117 4.3.2 Participants of the main study............................................. 120 4.3.3 Apparatus used in the main study ...................................... 121 4.3.4 Procedure of the main study ............................................... 121 4.3.5 Data preparation and results of the pretest ........................ 127 4.3.6 Data preparation and results of the main part .................... 152 4.4 General discussion and limitations ............................................ 227 4.4.1 Effects of audio-visual speech ............................................ 228 4.4.2 Effects of noise ................................................................... 234 4.4.3 Effects of task ..................................................................... 238 4.4.4 The impact of audio-visual speech input on work-load in simultaneous interpreting ................................................................. 241 4.4.5 Limitations .......................................................................... 245 5 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 247 5.1 Methodological implications ...................................................... 248 5.2 Practical implications................................................................. 251 5.3 Future research ......................................................................... 253 6 References ...................................................................................... 257 7 Appendix .......................................................................................... 286 7.1 Pretest stimuli ........................................................................... 286 7.2 Speeches .................................................................................. 290 7.2.1 Speech “Greece” ................................................................ 290 7.2.2 Speech “demographic change”........................................... 291 7.2.3 Speech “air travel” .............................................................. 293 7.2.4 Speech “work” .................................................................... 295 7.3 Text-related questions ............................................................... 297 7.3.1 Speech “Greece” ................................................................ 297 7.3.2 Speech “demographic change”........................................... 299 7.3.3 Speech “air travel” .............................................................. 301 7.3.4 Speech “work” .................................................................... 303 7.4 Tables ....................................................................................... 305 7.4.1 Results of the tukey comparison of response accuracy between participants during the pretest ........................................... 305 7.4.2 Results of the analyses of variance for the noise pretest. .. 316 7.4.3 Model estimates for the speech duration estimations ......... 318 7.4.4 Cognate translations: Cognate pairs with high Levenshtein ratio 319 Tables Table 1: Classification scheme for visual input in simultaneous interpreting ................................................................................................................. 45 Table 2: Experimental conditions. .......................................................... 104 Table 3: Participant's ratings .................................................................. 108 Table 4: Critical cases of cognate pairs. ................................................ 120 Table 5: Speeches in each experimental condition ................................ 124 Table 6: Model estimates of the linear mixed model on response times. 133 Table 7: Video quality ratings: Counts for the different levels ................ 154 Table 8: Video quality ratings: results