Evaluating sea experience with an eye mark recorder in a ship handling simulator

This study analyses the navigator's eye movement on the navigation bridge simulator. The main objective of this study is to find the differences between the sea experience level and educational level to evaluate the navigator's sea experience; this by fixation points in the ship-handling simulator. A measurement device ("EMR-8") is used for recording eye movements. There are three kinds of examinee groups, each group has 4 examinees. Group 1 is 2nd class, deck department students who have up to 2.5 months sea experience onboard training as a cadet. Group 2 is 4th class, deck department students who have up to 12 months. Group 3 is ocean-going masters who have different experiences as master or chief officer. The same scenario was used by each examinee. The visual field was divided into three parts inside, outside and others. Significant results, as shown below, were obtained by the comparison with differences among the groups. In Group 1, the examinees paid less attention to sailing. They had a remarkable difference in fixation duration between the inside and the outside; their fixation duration for "other places" was much longer than the other groups, and they had very little experience in using the inside equipment. In Group 2, the examinees showed differences in capabilities as a navigation officer which could be based on their sea experience and educational program. In Group 3, the examinees were professional seafarers, so they were able to pay more attention to all kinds of navigational information such as target ships or navigational aids. The study shows that sea experience as a seafarer or a cadet could be evaluated by using the eye mark recorder utilizing the ship-handling simulator.