Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator

Vincenzo Ronca; Esma Uflaz; Osman Turan; Hadi Bantan; Scott N. MacKinnon; Andrea Lommi; Simone Pozzi; Rafet Emek Kurt; Ozcan Arslan; Yasin Burak Kurt; Pelin Erdem; Emre Akyuz; Alessia Vozzi; Gianluca Di Flumeri; Pietro Aricò; Andrea Giorgi; Rossella Capotorto; Fabio Babiloni; Gianluca Borghini

doi:10.3390/brainsci13091319

Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator

Vincenzo Ronca, Esma Uflaz, Osman Turan, Hadi Bantan, Scott N. MacKinnon, Andrea Lommi, Simone Pozzi, Rafet Emek Kurt, Ozcan Arslan, Yasin Burak Kurt, Pelin Erdem, Emre Akyuz, Alessia Vozzi, Gianluca Di Flumeri, Pietro Aricò, Andrea Giorgi, Rossella Capotorto, Fabio Babiloni, Gianluca Borghini

Naval Architecture, Ocean And Marine Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks.

Original language	English
Article number	1319
Number of pages	19
Journal	Brain Sciences
Volume	13
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091319
Publication status	Published - 14 Sept 2023

Funding

This work was co-funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 projects “Strengthening synergies between Aviation and maritime in the area of human Factors toward achieving more Efficient and resilient MODE of transportation (SAFEMODE)” (Project Grant no: N°814961); This article is partly produced from Ph.D. thesis research entitled “Simulator-Based Evaluation of Human Response in Emergencies” which has been executed in a Ph.D. Program in Maritime Transportation Engineering of Graduate School in Istanbul Technical University; “FITDRIVE: Monitoring devices for overall FITness of Drivers” (GA n. 953432). The individual grants “CHALLENGES: CompreHensive frAmework to aLLEge and analyze surGEons’ Stress” (Bando Ateneo Medio 2021), “BRAINORCHESTRA: Multimodal teamwork assessment through hyperscanning technique” (Bando Ateneo Medio 2022) provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Gianluca Borghini, “AI-DRIVE: AI-based multimodal evaluation of car drivers’ performance for onboard assistive systems” (Avvio alla ricerca 2021), provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Gianluca Di Flumeri, “The Smelling Brain: discovering the unconscious effect of the odours in industrial contexts” (Avvio alla ricerca 2022), provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Alessia Vozzi, “REMES–Remote tool for emotional states evaluation’’ provided to Vincenzo Ronca, and “HF AUX-Aviation: Advanced tool for Human Factors evaluation for the AUXiliary systems assessment in Aviation”, provided by Sapienza University of Rome to Vincenzo Ronca are also acknowledged.

Keywords

neurophysiology
human factors
mental workload
stress
attention
maritime safety

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Cite this

Ronca, V., Uflaz, E., Turan, O., Bantan, H., MacKinnon, S. N., Lommi, A., Pozzi, S., Kurt, R. E., Arslan, O., Kurt, Y. B., Erdem, P., Akyuz, E., Vozzi, A., Di Flumeri, G., Aricò, P., Giorgi, A., Capotorto, R., Babiloni, F., & Borghini, G. (2023). Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator. Brain Sciences, 13(9), Article 1319. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091319

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title = "Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator",

abstract = "The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks.",

keywords = "neurophysiology, human factors, mental workload, stress, attention, maritime safety",

author = "Vincenzo Ronca and Esma Uflaz and Osman Turan and Hadi Bantan and MacKinnon, {Scott N.} and Andrea Lommi and Simone Pozzi and Kurt, {Rafet Emek} and Ozcan Arslan and Kurt, {Yasin Burak} and Pelin Erdem and Emre Akyuz and Alessia Vozzi and {Di Flumeri}, Gianluca and Pietro Aric{\`o} and Andrea Giorgi and Rossella Capotorto and Fabio Babiloni and Gianluca Borghini",

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Ronca, V, Uflaz, E, Turan, O , Bantan, H, MacKinnon, SN, Lommi, A, Pozzi, S, Kurt, RE, Arslan, O, Kurt, YB, Erdem, P, Akyuz, E, Vozzi, A, Di Flumeri, G, Aricò, P, Giorgi, A, Capotorto, R, Babiloni, F & Borghini, G 2023, 'Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator', Brain Sciences, vol. 13, no. 9, 1319. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091319

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T1 - Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator

AU - Ronca, Vincenzo

AU - Uflaz, Esma

AU - Turan, Osman

AU - Bantan, Hadi

AU - MacKinnon, Scott N.

AU - Lommi, Andrea

AU - Pozzi, Simone

AU - Kurt, Rafet Emek

AU - Arslan, Ozcan

AU - Kurt, Yasin Burak

AU - Erdem, Pelin

AU - Akyuz, Emre

AU - Vozzi, Alessia

AU - Di Flumeri, Gianluca

AU - Aricò, Pietro

AU - Giorgi, Andrea

AU - Capotorto, Rossella

AU - Babiloni, Fabio

AU - Borghini, Gianluca

PY - 2023/9/14

Y1 - 2023/9/14

N2 - The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks.

AB - The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks.

KW - neurophysiology

KW - human factors

KW - mental workload

KW - stress

KW - attention

KW - maritime safety

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DO - 10.3390/brainsci13091319

M3 - Article

SN - 2076-3425

VL - 13

JO - Brain Sciences

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IS - 9

M1 - 1319

ER -

Neurophysiological assessment of an innovative maritime safety system in terms of ship operators' mental workload, stress, and attention in the full mission bridge simulator

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Keywords

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