On Memory Principles In Consecutive Interpreting From The Perspective Of Cognitive Psychology

Consecutive interpreting is a kind of interpreting in which the speaker and interpreter act consecutively in the process of interpreting. It requires high accuracy and a relatively longer memory process. Therefore, it has a higher demanding in memory than other kinds of interpreting. Memory is a very important content in cognitive psychology. Research findings of cognitive psychology can help us understand memory better and thus find out how consecutive interpreters are able to improve their memory quality and enlarge their memory capacity for these are the main purpose of this paper.There are many researches on memory in interpreting at home. However, the researches mainly focus on one kind of memory or memory strategies in interpreting, lacking comprehensive research on fundamental memory principles. This paper, based on cognitive psychology theory, analyzes memory principles in consecutive interpreting. It discusses the significance of cognitive psychology to interpreting, the importance of memory in consecutive interpreting, and analyzes cognitive psychological factors such as attention, comprehension, forgetting and emotion which may affect memory in consecutive interpreting, and also proposes some strategies to cope with those factors. The paper analyzes some memory principles which can help the improvement of interpreter's memory ability including long-term memory principles like schema construction and frequently activation of knowledge and short-term memory principles like top-down processing, chunking and picturing. The application of those memory principles in press conference consecutive interpreting are also discussed in the paper.This paper does a research on consecutive interpreting from interdisciplinary perspective, borrowing the research findings of cognitive psychology mainly analyzing memory principles and their applications in press conference interpreting. The author hopes that the paper can help interpreters or would-be interpreters store information reasonably in their training or practice.