The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting and Cognition is, first and foremost, a refer ence work that brings together experts from a range of disciplines to synthesize research findings focused on various cognitive aspects associated with the practice of interpreting. A growing number of publications have sought to address cross-language activities in rec ognition of the complex, cognitively demanding, and unique bilingual activities of transla tion and interpreting. One need only look at works such as the Handbook on Translation and Cognition (Schwieter & Ferreira, 2017) and The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Interpreting and Bilingualism (Ferreira & Schwieter, 2023) to see the breadth of scholar ship that has emerged in these closely-related disciplines and the increasing speed with which findings shape our understanding of this bilingual activity. In many cases, including the previously-named volumes, interpreting is discussed in a section or chapters specifically devoted to interpreting scholarship, highlighting its relationship to translation while also recognizing that the ephemeral and nearly immediate nature of the task constitutes a prac tice that differs from its written counterpart. In other cases, translation and interpreting are treated alongside each other within the same chapter, sharing space to the extent possible to compare and contrast findings in relation to a specific theme. Both practices are quite useful to find commonalities and points of divergence in the research literature, and these contributions enable researchers to glean insights from this shared focus. Several factors contribute to the traditional divide between translation and interpreting tasks. However, from the perspective of Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies (CTIS), it is a consequence of depicting them with a broad brush. While previously a con venient strategy to accommodate disciplinary approaches within Translation and Interpret ing Studies, this approach is not optimal within CTIS. Once understood as monolithic modes, translation and interpreting increasingly appear to be variable clusters of features, and cognitive approaches need to take account of this new paradigm. The shared traits of these tasks can be reconsidered as multilectal mediated communication (MMC), includ ing translation, localization, oral and signed interpreting, post-editing, transcreating, and transediting. This reconceptualization requires examining the foundations of theories about these tasks. This chapter explores modularity, memory, and mental lexicon as examples demonstrating the need to update referential frameworks and find common ground for MMC tasks within CTIS. Seeking higher granularity in the MMC tasks, and skeptical of the referential constructs and assumptions involved in data interpretation, the chapter includes a research review and suggests emerging trends.
