Effects of vessel motion and fatigue on human performance in marine operations

Task performance in a marine environment may be highly influenced by fatigue, motion induced sickness and sleep deprivation. This study examined effects on human performance by inducing fatigue in a controlled simulated ship motion environment. Twelve subjects performed five 12 hour watches involving search and rescue (SAR) visual target detection in a full motion bridge simulator with both visual scene and platform motion capabilities. These 12 hour watches were performed under five conditions, including: control (no motion or fatigue); low motion (Beaufort sea state of 4); high motion (Beaufort sea state of 6); fatigue (24 hours of sleep deprivation with no platform motion) and fatigue-high motion (24 hours of sleep deprivation in a Beaufort sea state of 6). During each SAR scenario, search targets appeared on the simulated ocean scene exterior to the bridge. Subjects were measured on the rate of detection and range to target. Other subjective and objective measures of performance and fatigue, such as questionnaires and computerized cognitive tests were also administered to subjects. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...