Study On The Cognitive Overload Phenomenon In Consecutive Interpreting And Its Coping Tactics

China has experienced increasing contact and exchange with the outside worldsince the late1970s when the policy of reform and opening up was adopted.Understandably, Chinese society finds itself in urgent need of qualified interpreters toplay the role of bilingual communicators between China and other countries. As aresult, interpreting studies have mushroomed in China.Consecutive Interpreting (CI) is a cognitive multitasking processing ofinformation. In the information processing of CI, such as reception of information,memorization, and note-taking, interpreters are likely to be confronted with anyproblems triggered by the pressure of cognitive loads, which is apt to cause the errorsand omission in the CI.Based on Gile’s Efforts Model and Comprehension Equation, referring to relevantmaterials, this dissertation attempts to make a comprehensive analysis of informationprocessing mechanisms from a cognitive perspective, and to explore coping tactics andproper solutions to frequently confronted problems in CI, hoping to make somecontribution to future’s theoretical and practical study of interpretation.The findings of this study imply that some coping strategies, such as “mentalsupplement”,“chunking”,“application of Schema Theory”,“language conversion” etc,are beneficial in upgrading interpreters’ processing capacity of individual tasks，andoptimizing the allocation of limited mental energy, thus leading to performanceenhancement in terms of completeness and accuracy. Meanwhile，improvement ofinterpreting skills and coordination capacity can also contribute to enhancing automaticprocessing capacity of information, and optimizing the allocation of efforts, whichresults in decreasing the percentage of errors in CI. The present study has a theoreticalsignificance related to interdisciplinary studies of interpreting, and it also has practicalvalue for vocational interpreting training and professional interpreting teaching.This dissertation falls into the following six chapters. Chapter One is anintroduction stating the background, significance and methodology of this research.Chapter Two deals with literature review that dwells on the basic information ofconsecutive interpreting, including its concepts, characteristics and cognitive study oninterpreting. Chapter Three is about theoretical framework, which involves the introduction to Gile’s Efforts Model and Comprehension Equation. Chapter Fouranalyzes the “problem triggers” which influence the processing capacity and theinterpreter’s cognitive saturation. Based upon the former chapter, this part paysattention to the main cognitive mechanisms including listening and analysismechanism, memory mechanism, note-taking mechanism and production mechanism.Chapter Five focuses on the tactics to cope with the cognitive saturation in CI so as tooptimize the allocation of limited mental energy and improve processing capacity ofinformation. Chapter Six is the conclusion of this dissertation with the remarks oflimitation of the study, and suggestion for future studies.