Neuroscience Approach to Situational Awareness: A Research on Marine Navigation

This study investigates the cognitive levels of tugboat captains, key players during port manoeuvres, which are a crucial part of sea navigation. The objective is to reveal the main neurophysiological findings related to the measurements of the tugboat captains’ brain activity during both rest and actual manoeuvring performance and to investigate the relationship between this brain activity and situational awareness. The study employed an experimental research method. Brain waves of the tugboat captains were recorded using the Emotiv X EEG device and the Emotiv Pro v2.0 program during real port manoeuvres which is a part of the sea navigation. Situational awareness levels were tried to be determined by analysing the obtained values in the Brain Products Vision Analyzer 2.1 software. The study examined the cognitive states of four tugboat captains during 16 manoeuvres and resting, focusing on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)/Band power graph values. Within the scope of the research non-parametric Friedman Test with five variables [Resting State (RS), 1st Manoeuvre Group, 2nd Manoeuvre Group, 3rd Manoeuvre Group, and 4th Manoeuvre Group] to analyse the FFT values of the participants. Post-hoc comparisons were calculated using Bonferroni correction. The results showed no difference in alpha wave power, while delta, theta, beta, and gamma power decreased. The primary outcome of the research indicates that professional tugboat captains, who were the participants of the study, exhibited consistent situational awareness levels both during manoeuvring and resting moments.