Lexical frequency modulates current cognitive load, but triggers no spillover effect in interpreting

This study analyses cognitive load in simultaneous interpreting on the basis of naturalistic data from the Polish Interpreting Corpus (PINC). We wanted to find evidence both for the current load (visible immediately after the exposure to the source text word) and the exported load (visible after the production of the translation equivalent in the target text). We operationalised cognitive load as disruptions in fluency, i.e., silent and filled pauses. We assumed that low-frequency words would trigger higher current cognitive load than high-frequency words and cognates. This could lead to exported load and create a spillover effect, i.e., a decreased interpreting performance somewhere downstream. Our results show increased current cognitive load when processing low frequency words as compared to high frequency words and a directionality effect. We found no evidence for the spillover effect. Our findings suggest that the frequency of source text words affects the current cognitive load especially in B-A interpreting, potentially pointing at comprehension problems. Lexical frequency might not be a good predictor of the spillover effect. The study extends research on cognitive load in interpreting on the basis of naturalistic data and shows future research avenues for studies of the spillover effect.