The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex and Functional Connectivity during Maritime Operations: An fNIRS study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Maritime Safety
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Maritime watchkeeping is critical for preventing collisions.
• Failures in sustained attention and decision-making during watchkeeping increase collision risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation and functional connectivity during simulated maritime watchkeeping tasks.
• To determine if neurovascular and network measures predict performance in safety-critical scenarios.

Main Methods:

• 40 participants (20 experienced, 20 inexperienced) performed sustained attention and decision-making tasks in a ship bridge simulator.
• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured PFC activation.
• Graph-theoretic measures quantified functional connectivity.

Main Results:

• Right lateral PFC activation decreased during sustained attention and increased during decision-making.
• Functional connectivity (density and local clustering) patterns changed significantly between tasks.
• Network measures were associated with behavioral outcomes in spotting targets and executing evasive maneuvers.

Conclusions:

• The right lateral PFC is sensitive to cognitive demands during maritime watchkeeping and decision-making.
• Graph-theoretic analysis effectively quantifies functional connectivity and predicts safety-critical performance.