The introduction explains the notion of translation used in the book, distinguishing it from other uses of the term in disciplines such as geometry, biology, social sciences, philosophy of language and the performing arts. It suggests that rather than dwelling on translation problems, the activity should be considered as an opportunity to excel cognitively and creatively.

This chapter presents the varied types of attention deficits that are observed in different special populations. These provide evidence for the importance of attention in many aspects of our lives, and this chapter explains how studies of these patients continues to motivate and shape much of the neuroscience research that will be covered in subsequent chapters. Patients suffering from unilateral neglect syndrome, subsequent to brain lesions, have revealed a network of temporo-parietal and ventral frontal regions, lateralized largely to the right hemisphere, that is critical for disengaging and reorienting attention. These patients also provide evidence for the distinction between space-based versus object-based attention. Damage to subcortical structures in the thalamus and superior colliculus are linked to deficits in engaging and moving attention, respectively. The history and current diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are described, along with how this disorder affects multiple processes of attention. Symptoms of ADHD and the neglect syndrome are used to introduce the concepts of executive control, the filtering of irrelevant distractors, and the balance of top-down and bottom-up influences on attention. The possibility that dysfunctional attention mechanisms may also play a role in autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders is discussed.

This chapter introduces a fundamental aspect of attention that is beginning to be understood at a deeper level because of neuroscience research. In addition to how attention is allocated at one instant in time, new research is showing that there are temporal limits to attention and that a complete understanding of attention requires understanding the timing of attention. The “attentional blink” phenomenon is discussed, along with neuroscience evidence linking attention and consciousness. The brain mechanisms of attending to time are compared to those involved in attending to space and to static properties of objects. This chapter also explores the relation between attention and memory, highlighting the holding of attention. The factors that determine attentional dwell time, and the brain regions affecting this type of control are introduced. Classic and modern theories of the role of rhythms in the brain are discussed, and evidence from fMRI, ERPs, and single-unit recordings are presented that provide evidence for internally generated versus externally triggered rhythms in the alpha, beta, theta, and gamma frequency bands. The importance of neural entrainment and the synchrony of neural activity within and across brain regions is discussed, in relation to its role in attentional control and conscious processing.

The chapter summarizes previous chapters, presents a view of the status quo of the discipline, and looks forward to the future. If we are in an era in which translating is becoming increasingly machine aided, by increasingly ’skilled’ mechanisms, then translators will be enabled to manage the increasing demands on their time of an increasingly interconnected world.

This chapter explores “predictive coding” models, which challenge classic theories of perception and brain function. By incorporating details of both the connectivity between brain areas and the levels of microcircuitry within cortical regions, these models suggest a radical new way to conceive of perception and cognition. Whereas classic models assume that feed-forward, or bottom-up, processing is mainly responsible for our perception, predictive coding theories suggest that top-down models determine our perception, with bottom-up processing simply correcting errors in those models. Neuroscience evidence is presented for the abundance of top-down connections, the efficiency of neural coding, the role of expectancy in attention, and how the balance of top-down and bottom-up processing is related to the dysfunctional attention processes in some clinical groups. The allocation of attention is thought to be a dynamic and changing process wherein top-down hyper-priors are integrated with current priors that are being continually updated within and across levels. According to such models, attention affects the expected precision (reliability) of bottom-up information and the likelihood that this information will be used to update the current top-down models. Predictive coding theories that are opening new ways of thinking about the neural mechanisms that drive our attention are discussed.

This chapter covers the history of attention research and introduces the main issues that are being actively studied today. Key figures in the development of attention as a topic of scientific research are highlighted, including William James, Hermann von Helmholtz, Franciscus Donders, Colin Cherry, Donald Broadbent, Anne Treisman, and Michael Posner. The events leading up to the “cognitive revolution” are described and the initial studies of attention motivated by the “cocktail party phenomenon” are introduced. Classic paradigms to test the functions of attention are described, including the “shadowing task”, the Posner cuing paradigm, visual search tasks, the Eriksen flanker task, and the attention network task (ANT). The distinction between overt attention and covert attention is explained, and the link between attention and eye-movements is discussed. Important theories of attention are introduced, including the early versus late selection controversy, the spotlight and zoom-lens models of attention, the motor theory of attention, and feature integration theory. The relation of attention to consciousness is introduced and the concepts of distraction and mind-wandering are introduced.

This chapter describes the many methods of Cognitive Neuroscience that are revealing the neural processes underlying complex cognitive processes in the brain. The benefits and limitations of each method are discussed, highlighting how there is no single “best” method and how the choice of method in any experiment should be motivated by the hypothesis being evaluated. Neuropsychology provides novel insights into the neural bases of cognitive processes but is limited because it relies on naturally occurring lesions. Neuroimaging methods (fMRI, PET, fNIRS) provide excellent spatial resolution but cannot assess the temporal order of neural activity across regions. Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) can track neural activity in real time, but their spatial precision is limited because they are recorded from outside the head. Neurostimulation methods (TMS, tDCS, tACS) can uniquely assess causality by testing if, and when, a brain area is necessary for a particular function. Methods using non-human animals (e.g., single-unit recordings) can provide the highest levels of spatial and temporal precision, but they are limited to mental processes that the non-human animals can be trained to do. This chapter ends with a comparison of methods that includes portability, spatial precision, and temporal resolution.

In this chapter, we look at sociolinguistic aspects of globalization. The sociolinguistic turn entailed a focus on variation, which became more intricate as social barriers shifted. Recent changes have intensified such trends, and today language variation is no longer seen as static, in a socially stratified and rather rigid system. Rather, it represents a negotiated system and a fluid form of identity construction characterized by ever-widening social networks in an increasingly digital world. We look at superdiversity in the postmodern world and effects of mobility on sociolinguistic repertoires, present theoretical and methodological issues, both geopolitically and geoculturally, and introduce the World Language System, which orders the world’s languages into different layers according to criteria such as usage, function and speaker numbers. Finally, we look at winners and losers of language and globalization (countries, companies and individuals) so as to assess general sociolinguistic trends in a postmodern world.