Identifying cognitive challenges for safe ship overtaking in restricted waterways
Stella Parisi & Dimitris Nathanael
What the paper says
Navigation in constrained waters is a cognitively challenging task for seafarers requiring the combined assessment of various elements to perform it with safety. This paper presents our approach to make sense of the dynamic, uncertain, and complex work domain of sea pilotage. We aimed to obtain a detailed description of the overtaking manoeuvre and to understand the cognitive processes of mariners when they perform this task in confined waters. To achieve this, we performed a qualitative study using Applied Cognitive Task Analysis with five highly experienced sea pilots in northern Germany. Based on the content analysis of the interviews and the other data collection activities, we have identified six phases of the overtaking task and twelve high level cognitive challenges that significantly affect pilots’ decision making and situation awareness during overtaking. The main output is a Cognitive Demands Table where the findings on the cognitive challenges, common errors, strategies, and cues are organized. The analysis of our results captured pilots’ insights on decision-making and expertise, the role of communication, planning and foresight and how the cognitive challenges correspond to situation awareness. Finally, practical implications for the design of the workplace and operating procedures, the training of pilots and the limitations of the study are discussed.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.