Exploring cognitive processes in specialized text post-editing: a mixed methods approach integrating eye-tracking and verbalization protocols

Abstract The current demand for specialized translation, technological advances, use of CAT tools, and delivery times have impacted both product and process, thereby fostering post-editing services. Post-editing refers to the adjustments of raw products by an automatic translator (Alves et al., 2016). Consequently, there has been an interest in studying product quality and various linguistic features including syntactic, morphosyntactic, and semantic aspects (Popovic et al., 2014; Koponen et al., 2012; Temnikova, 2010) without an examination of the cognitive processes involved in reading for post-editing. This paper aims to describe specialized text comprehension for post-editing purposes. Data was collected using an eye-tracker and a retrospective protocol from three translators. Acting as post-editors, participants were assigned to post-edit a 227-word text from the health area. Findings reveal that specialized text comprehension involves attention and working memory (Cowan, 1999, 2005; Cowan et al., 2021) during the processing of terminological units (TUs). Additionally, factors such as the field of knowledge, expertise, experience, and level of education might also influence the post-editing process.