You are cordially invited to the Zoom Webinar organized by the Department of Translation and Interpretation.
Title : Your Brain on Interpreting: How interpreting training and expertise influence the brain
Speaker: Asst. Prof. Laura Babcock, Stockholm University
Date & Time: December 16, 2022, Friday, 13.30-15.00
***This is an online seminar. To request the event link, please send a message to department.
Abstract: Studying interpreters’ brain has been an intriguing research topic in interpreting studies. In order to do so, non-invasive imaging techniques such as MRI have been used to explore and map out the different structures of the brain and compare them in different individuals. Functional imaging of the brain purports to see the brain in action. The speech will focus on different pathways and functions triggered as a result of interpreting. Moreover it will discuss how to interpret this data in relation to interpreting performance, expertise and training.
Biography: Laura Babcock is an assistant professor of Interpreting studies at the Institute for Interpreting and Translation Studies, Department of Swedish Language and Multilingualism at Stockholm University. She earned a BS in Physics from MIT in Cambridge, MA, USA in 2004 and an MS in Linguistics from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, USA in 2008. She then worked as a research assistant for two years in the Brain and Language Lab at Georgetown University run by Michael Ullman. In 2015, she defended her dissertation in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy. Laura’s dissertation explored cognition and brain structure in relation to conference interpreting skills through a longitudinal study of conference interpreting students and a comparison of professional conference interpreters and multilinguals. Her research continues to explore cognitive and neural aspects of interpreting experience and multilingualism generally.