What Affects the Awareness of the Affect?

1. Presented by: Stephanie Weiss INT 346 Final Project Professor Paul HarrelsonMay 6, 2013 What Affects the Awareness of the Affect?

2. Table of Contents • Definition • Examples • Causes • A). Hemispheres within the Brain • B). Background Information • C). Schema • Interviewers Profile • Different Scenarios • Conclusion • Discussion • References

3. Definition What is Affect? • psychological term for an observable expression of emotion and feelings • displayed to others through… • facial expressions, • hand gestures, • voice tone, and • other emotional signs such as laughter or tears • varies from culture to culture, and even within a culture • Hearing World: hand gestures and voice tone • Deaf World: hand gestures and facial expressions Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders

4. Examples • We are NOT always Mind Readers!

5. Causes • What makes us think the way we do? • How can we determine the affect? • Can we misinterpret the meaning by being confused on the affect of the speaker? • A). Hemispheres within the Brain • B). Background Information • C). Schema

6. A). Hemispheres within the Brain

7. …continuation! ASL is similar to spoken English, but its meaning is transmitted in a much different way. Hemispheres • Left Hemisphere • Spoken English & ASL • Producing Language (Sakai, 2005) • Right Hemisphere • ASL • High-level Vision and Motion Processing (Chen 2007) • Visuospatial Processing (Sakai, 2005) • According to a study from Aaron J. Newman and his colleagues at the University of Oregon, their research shows that theright angular gyrusis highly activated during ASL processing in people who learned the language from birth (native ASL signers), but not in those people who learned it after puberty (non-native ASL signers) • It seems that for both spoken and signed languages, the age at which the language is learned affects how the brain will be organized. (Newman et, al. 2002)

8. B). Background Information • Interpreting Experience and Knowledge • Native & Not Native ASL Users • Familiarity of both Auditory & Visual Languages • Deaf Exposure • Personality • Recognizing Accents

9. C). Schema Upon entering an interpreting assignment, it’s important and beneficial for interpreters to know the… • 1). Content • Topic, Issues, and/or Area of Concern • Recognition of Surroundings • 2). Participants and Audience • Who? • Familiarity • 3). Communication • Who? What? Where? When? Why? • Register and Goal • 4). Location/Environment • Are you comfortable or uncomfortable? • Position/Stance • Peripheral Vision

10. Interviewer’s Profile • Diversity • Professional Interpreting Experience = 10to 33+ Years • Hearing People & Codas • Certified & Not Certified • Majored in Interpreting and/or Deaf Education (not in interpreting program) • PhD Students, Mothers, etc. • All Women

11. Different Scenarios • I will explain 4 different scenarios! • 1). International Conference Calls • 2). Stage Interpreting • 3). VRS Interpreting • 4). Experienced Consumer

12. Scenario #1 International Conference Calls • Who’s Who? • Can you hear the different voices for the different speaker? • Inform speaker to say name before he/she starts to utter • Usage of Speaker Phone • Identifying the Affect, Context, and Register • Accents – Do you understand them?

13. Scenario #2 Stage Interpreting • “Are you being serious right now or what?” • Can be directed towards Codas and/or Hearing • You can’t see speaker • Peripheral Vision may be needed • Must relay on your auditory hearing – some are weak in this area

14. Scenario #3 VRS Interpreting • Who’s Sam? • Register • Location

15. Scenario #4 Experienced Consumer • “Pssh, yeah right!” • Known person/consumer for many years • Recognition of the Context, Personality and Historical Style! • Predictions and Expectations • You can identify their affect!

16. Conclusion • All interpreters have different ways for identifying the affect upon their consumers. • It’s normal for interpreters to struggle within a certain area either auditory and/or visually, depending on how they were raised to determine the kind of affect being presented. • “Interpreters must not only be willing to make decisions that are most appropriate for the situation but also to analyze the situation and the options in order to choose the best option” (Macnamara, 2012).

17. Discussion • What affects your affect? • Are you more auditory or visual? • Which scenario would be most challenging for you? Which one would impact you the most? Which one would be your strength? Which one would be your weakness?

18. References • Affect - person, people, mood, Definition, Description. (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://www.minddisorders.com/A-Br/Affect.html • Chen, L. (2007). Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://lcn.salk.edu/lm_index_Previous.html • Newman, A.J., Bavelier, D., Corina, D., Jezzard, P. and Neville, H.J. (2002). A critical period for right hemisphere recruitment in American Sign Language processing. Nature Neuroscience, 5:76-80. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/sign.html • Sakai, K. L. (2005). Language acquisition and brain development. Science, 310(5749), 815-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213593616?accountid=27346 • Macnamara, Brooke (2012) "Interpreter Cognitive Aptitudes," Journal of Interpretation: Vol. 19: Iss. 1, Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/joi/vol19/iss1/1