The effects of interpreting training and expertise on executive functioning: A systematic review

Executive functions play a crucial role in the management (i.e., regulation, control) of cognition (Elliott, 2003), for instance, in working memory, task flexibility, reasoning and problem solving. Recently, research on multilingualism has revealed a specific role of these executive functions in managing language systems, leading to enhanced executive processing in multilinguals compared to second language learners and bilinguals (Poarch & 26 van Hell, 2012). Interpreting is an even more complex skill that requires the coordination of several concurrent linguistic and cognitive activities (e.g., Morales, Padilla, Gómez-Ariza, & Bajo, 2015). Therefore, the question can be raised if interpreting training and expertise lead to additional effects on those executive functions. It is hypothesized that interpreters will be better in “updating”, “shifting”, and “inhibition” compared to standard second language learners, bilinguals, and multilinguals. In order to answer this question, we have conducted a systematic review on the relationship between interpreting and executive functions. Four databases were searched with a cut-off date of May 31, 2015. In total, 11 papers were included that met our strict inclusion criteria. Moreover, the empirically validated theoretical framework by Miyake et al. (2000) was used to investigate which executive functions are most affected by interpreting. Our results reveal that, in line with our expectations, consistent effects on “updating” and “shifting” were found; however, surprisingly, and in sharp contrast to our hypothesis, “inhibition” does not seem to be affected by interpreting. This is an intriguing new finding because in multilingualism research, inhibition is often indicated as the most relevant executive function involved in language management. In the present paper, we explain for the first time how those two seemingly contradictory findings might be integrated.