ABSTRACT

 The major aim of the present study was to investigate the possible relationships between dimensions of executive functioning, affective functioning, and emotion regulation in first year Master students in conference interpreting. We also wanted to explore the existence of potential cognitive and emotional assets specific to students in conference interpreting, representing individual prerequisites which determine and sustain their career from the early stages. Alternatively, if such assets might not be identifiable at the beginning of their professional career, they could be subsequently shaped and trained by experience with interpreting. Selfreport and objective measures of executive functioning (working memory and inhibition), plus standardized questionnaires measuring emotional regulation strategies, affective symptoms (depressive, anxious, stress-related) and were administered and contrasted to results in a normative age-matched sample of students. Results indicated that conference interpreting students were significantly less stressed and had better objective performance in executive functioning tasks (interference control and working memory). They also preferred to involve some specific emotional regulation strategies, although they did not differ in terms of recent states of distress from other students. The pattern of interrelationships between these domains of cognitive and emotional functioning was also investigated.

KEYWORDS: conference interpretation, distress, emotion regulation, working memory, inhibition

PAGES:209-228