Simultaneous interpreting experience enhances semantic prediction in Turkish

Ena Hodzik, Deniz Özkan and Ebru Diriker
Université de Mons | Marmara University | Boğaziçi University

This study investigates prediction based on verb semantics in a Turkish monolingual comprehension task in professional and student Turkish (A)–English (B) interpreters. Predictive eye movements were compared between the two groups to examine potential differences in the size of the semantic prediction effect. In addition, the participants’ working memory capacity was measured to see whether working memory facilitates prediction and whether this facilitatory effect differs between the two groups. We found a stronger semantic prediction effect in professional than student interpreters. Moreover, student interpreters with higher working memory capacity showed a stronger semantic prediction effect than students with lower working memory capacity. No such difference was observed for professionals. Our findings suggest that professional interpreters do not need to use additional resources to predict meaning, unlike students. Together with previous findings, we observe an interpreting experience related advantage for prediction in non-interpreting tasks irrespective of type of predictive cue under investigation.

Publication history

Date received: 18 September 2023

Date accepted: 18 July 2025

Published online: 18 August 2025

Table of contents

Prediction is claimed to be an integral part of language comprehension. It has been investigated extensively as pre-activation of information on different levels of language processing with the help of eye-tracking measurement techniques recording fixations on referents in the visual world paradigm (VWP) (Cooper 1974; Tanenhaus et al. 1995). There is now evidence of pre-activation of information on the phonetic, morpho-syntactic, semantic, and discourse levels (Kamide, Altmann, and Haywood 2003; Kamide, Scheepers, and Altmann 2003; Brown et al. 2011; Borovsky, Elman, and Fernald 2012). There is also more recent evidence of individual differences in prediction, related to language experience (Hintz, Meyer, and Huettig 2017) and domain-general cognitive skills, such as working memory capacity (WMC) (Huettig and Janse 2016; Ito, Pickering, and Corley 2018), suggesting that prediction can be trained (which has been found during reading; see Huettig and Pickering 2019).

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

AIIC
2025 “The AIIC A-B-C.” Accessed January 13, 2025. https://​aiic​.org​/site​/world​/about​/profession​/abc
Altmann, Gerry T. M.
2011 “Language Can Mediate Eye Movement Control Within 100 Milliseconds, Regardless of Whether There Is Anything to Move the Eyes to.” Acta Psychologica 137 (2): 190–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Altmann, Gerry T. M., and Yuki Kamide
1999 “Incremental Interpretation at Verbs: Restricting the Domain of Subsequent Reference.” Cognition 73 (3): 247–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amos, Rhona M., Kilian G. Seeber, and Martin J. Pickering
2022 “Prediction During Simultaneous Interpreting: Evidence from the Visual-World Paradigm.” Cognition 220: 104987. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2023a “Student Interpreters Predict Meaning while Simultaneously Interpreting — Even before Training.” Interpreting 25 (2): 211–238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Amos, Rhona M., Robert J. Hartsuiker, Kilian G. Seeber, and Martin J. Pickering
2023b “Purposeful Listening in Challenging Conditions: A Study of Prediction During Consecutive Interpreting in Noise.” PLoS ONE 18 (7): e0288960. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Audacity Team
2014 Audacity (Version 2.0.6). https://​audacityteam​.org
Baguley, Thomas
2012 Serious Stats: A Guide to Advanced Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. London: Bloomsbury. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bajo, María Teresa, Francisca Padilla, and Presentación Padilla
2000 “Comprehension Processes in Simultaneous Interpreting.” In Translation in Context, edited by Andrew Chesterman, Yves Gambier, and Natividad Gallardo San Salvador, 127–142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barr, Dale J.
2008 “Analyzing ‘Visual World’ Eyetracking Data Using Multilevel Logistic Regression.” Journal of Memory and Language 59 (4): 457–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barr, Dale J., Roger Levy, Christoph Scheepers, and Harry J. Tily
2013 “Random Effects Structure for Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing: Keep it Maximal.” Journal of Memory and Language 68 (3): 255–278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, Douglas, Martin Mächler, Ben Bolker, and Steve Walker
2015 “Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4.” Journal of Statistical Software 67 (1): 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borovsky, Arielle, Jeffrey L. Elman, and Anne Fernald
2012 “Knowing a Lot for One’s Age: Vocabulary Skill and Not Age Is Associated With Anticipatory Incremental Sentence Interpretation in Children and Adults.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 112 (4): 417–436. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brouwer, Susanne, Deniz Özkan, and Aylin C. Küntay
2019 “Verb-Based Prediction During Language Processing: The Case of Dutch and Turkish.” Journal of Child Language 46 (1): 80–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Meredith, Anne Pier Salverda, Laura C. Dilley, and Michael K. Tanenhaus
2011 “Expectations From Preceding Prosody Influence Segmentation in Online Sentence Processing.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 18 (6): 1189–1196. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chernov, Gelly V.
2004 Inference and Anticipation in Simultaneous Interpreting: A Probability-Prediction model. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chmiel, Agnieszka
2021 “Effects of Simultaneous Interpreting Experience and Training on Anticipation, as Measured by Word-Translation Latencies.” Interpreting 23 (1): 18–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christoffels, Ingrid K., Anette M. B. de Groot, and Judith F. Kroll
2006 “Memory and Language Skills in Simultaneous Interpreters: The Role of Expertise and Language Proficiency.” Journal of Memory and Language 54: 324–345. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cooper, Roger M.
1974 “The Control of Eye Fixation by the Meaning of Spoken Language: A New Methodology for the Real-Time Investigation of Speech Perception, Memory, and Language Processing.” Cognitive Psychology 6 (1): 84–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeLong, Katherine A., Thomas P. Urbach, and Marta Kutas
2005 “Probabilistic Word Pre-Activation During Language Comprehension Inferred From Electrical Brain Activity.” Nature Neuroscience 8 (8): 1117–1121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ding, Jinfeng, Yuping Zhang, Panpan Liang, and Xiaoqing Li
2023 “Modulation of Working Memory Capacity on Predictive Processing During Language Comprehension.” Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 38 (8): 1133–1152. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Estevez, Adelina, and Manuel G. Calvo
2000 “Working Memory Capacity and Time Course of Predictive Inferences.” Memory 8 (1): 51–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabbro, Franco, Bruno Gran, and Laura Gran
1991 “Hemispheric Specialization for Semantic and Syntactic Components of Language in Simultaneous Interpreters.” Brain and Language 41 (1): 1–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fan, Damien Chiaming, Aymeric Collart, and Shiao-hui Chan
2022 “When Two Languages Are Competing: An ERP Study of Sentence Processing in Expert and Novice Interpreters.” Interpreting 24 (1): 1–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Federmeier, Kara D.
2022 “Connecting and Considering: Electrophysiology Provides Insights Into Comprehension.” Psychophysiology 59 (1): e13940. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferreira, Fernanda, and Suphasiree Chantavarin
2018 “Integration and Prediction in Language Processing: A Synthesis of Old and New.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 27 (6): 443–448. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
García, Adolfo M., Edison Muñoz, and Boris Kogan
2020 “Taxing the Bilingual Mind: Effects of Simultaneous Interpreting Experience on Verbal and Executive Mechanisms.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23 (4): 729–739. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gile, Daniel
2009 Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hintz, Florian, Antje S. Meyer, and Falk Huettig
2017 “Predictors of Verb-Mediated Anticipatory Eye Movements in the Visual World.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 43 (9): 1352–1374.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodzik, Ena, and John N. Williams
2017 “Predictive Processes During Simultaneous Interpreting from German into English.” Interpreting 19 (1): 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hodzik, Ena
2023 “Predictive Processes in Interpreters: Existing Findings and Future Directions in Interpreting Process Research.” Translation, Cognition & Behavior 6 (2): 141–163. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huettig, Falk, and Esther Janse
2016 “Individual Differences in Working Memory and Processing Speed Predict Anticipatory Spoken Language Processing in the Visual World.” Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 31 (1): 80–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huettig, Falk, and Martin J. Pickering
2019 “Literacy Advantages Beyond Reading: Prediction of Spoken Language.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 23 (6): 464–475. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ito, Aine, Martin J. Pickering, and Martin Corley
2018 “Investigating the Time-Course of Phonological Prediction in Native and Non-Native Speakers of English: A Visual World Eye-Tracking Study.” Journal of Memory and Language 98: 1–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jörg, Udo
1997 “Bridging the Gap: Verb Anticipation in German–English Simultaneous Interpreting.” In Translation as Intercultural Communication: Selected Papers from the EST Congress, Prague 1995, edited by Mary Snell-Hornby, Zuzana Jettmarova, and Klaus Kaindl, 217–228. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaan, Edith, and Theres Grüter
eds. 2021 Prediction in Second Language Processing and Learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamide, Yuki, Gerry T. M. Altmann, and Sarah L. Haywood
2003 “The Time-Course of Prediction in Incremental Sentence Processing: Evidence From Anticipatory Eye Movements.” Journal of Memory and Language 49: 133–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamide, Yuki, Christoph Scheepers, and Gerry T. M. Altmann
2003 “Integration of Syntactic and Semantic Information in Predictive Processing: Cross-Linguistic Evidence from German and English.” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 32 (1): 38–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuperberg, Gina R., and Florian T. Jaeger
2016 “What Do We Mean by Prediction in Language Comprehension?” Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 31 (1): 32–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakens, Daniël
2017 “Equivalence Tests: A Practical Primer for T Tests, Correlations, and Meta-Analyses.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 8 (4): 355–362. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lederer, Marianne
1981 La Traduction Simultanée: Expérience et Théorie [Simultaneous interpreting: Practice and theory]. Lettres Modernes Minard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lewis, Richard L., Shravan Vasishth, and Julie A. van Dyke
2006 “Computational Principles of Working Memory in Sentence Comprehension.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10 (10): 447–454. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, Yumeng, Qianxi Lv, and Junying Liang
2018 “Predicting Fluency with Language Proficiency, Working Memory, and Directionality in Simultaneous Interpreting.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (1543). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lozano-Argüelles, Cristina, and Nuria Sagarra
2021 “Interpreting Experience Enhances the Use of Lexical Stress and Syllabic Structure to Predict L2 Word Endings.” Applied Psycholinguistics 42 (5): 1135–1157. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lozano-Argüelles, Cristina, Nuria Sagarra, and Joseph V. Casillas
2020 “Slowly But Surely: Interpreting Facilitates L2 Morphological Anticipation Based on Suprasegmental and Segmental Information.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23 (4): 752–762. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2023 “Interpreting Experience and Working Memory Effects on L1 and L2 Morphological Prediction.” Frontiers in Language Sciences 1: 1065014. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mellinger, Christopher D., and Thomas A. Hanson
2019 “Meta-Analyses of Simultaneous Interpreting and Working Memory.” Interpreting 21 (2): 165–195. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otten, Marte, and Jos J. A. van Berkum
2009 “Does Working Memory Capacity Affect the Ability to Predict Upcoming Words in Discourse?” Brain Research 1291: 92–101. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Özkan, Deniz, Ena Hodzik, and Ebru Diriker
2023 “Simultaneous Interpreting Experience Enhances the Use of Case Markers for Prediction in Turkish.” Interpreting 25 (2): 186–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Psychology Software Tools, Inc
2016 “E-Prime 2.0 Software.” https://​support​.pstnet​.com/
R Core Team
2023 R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://​www​.R​-project​.org/
Riccardi, Alessandra
1996 “Language-Specific Strategies in Simultaneous Interpreting.” In Teaching Translation and Interpreting 3, edited by Cay Dollerup and Vibeke Appel, 213–222. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ryskin, Rachel, and Mante S. Nieuwland
2023 “Prediction During Language Comprehension: What Is Next?” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 27 (11): 1032–1052. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sagarra, Nuria, and Julia Herschensohn
2010 “The Role of Proficiency and Working Memory in Gender and Number Agreement Processing in L1 and L2 Spanish.” Lingua 120 (8): 2022–2039. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Santilli, Micaela, Martina G. Vilas, Ezequiel Mikulan, Miguel Martorell Caro, Edison Muñoz, Lucas Sedeño, Agustin Ibáñez, and Adolfo M. García
2019 “Bilingual Memory, to the Extreme: Lexical Processing in Simultaneous Interpreters.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 22 (2): 331–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tanenhaus, Michael K., Michael J. Spivey-Knowlton, Kathleen M. Eberhard, and Julie C. Sedivy
1995 “Integration of Visual and Linguistic Information in Spoken Language Comprehension.” Science 268 (5217): 1632–1634. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Timarová, Šárka, Ivana Čeňková, Reine Meylaerts, Erik Hertog, Arnaud Szmalec, and Wouter Duyck
2015 “Simultaneous Interpreting and Working Memory Capacity.” In Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting, edited by Aline Ferreira and John W. Schwieter, 101–126. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tzou, Yeh-Zu, Zohreh R. Eslami, Hsin-Chin Chen, and Jyotsna Vaid
2011 “Effect of Language Proficiency and Degree of Formal Training in Simultaneous Interpreting on Working Memory and Interpreting Performance: Evidence from Mandarin–English Speakers.” International Journal of Bilingualism 16 (2): 213–227. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Unsworth, Nash, Richard P. Heitz, Josef C. Schrock, and Randall W. Engle
2005 “An Automated Version of the Operation Span Task.” Behavior Research Methods 37 (3): 498–505. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Berkum, Jos J., Colin M. Brown, Pienie Zwitserlood, Valesca Kooijman, and Peter Hagoort
2005 “Anticipating Upcoming Words in Discourse: Evidence From ERPs and Reading Times.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31 (3): 443–476.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wen, Hao, and Yanping Dong
2019 “How Does Interpreting Experience Enhance Working Memory and Short-Term Memory: A Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Cognitive Psychology 31 (8): 769–784. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yudes, Carolina, Pedro Macizo, Luis Morales, and Maria Teresa Bajo
2013 “Comprehension and Error Monitoring in Simultaneous Interpreters.” Applied Psycholinguistics 34 (5): 1039–1057. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Wei, and Dewei Yu
2019 “A Duet and/or a Concerto?: Simultaneous Interpreters’ Working Memory and Interpreting Expertise.” Babel 65 (4): 519–537. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
 
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue