Study on ship navigators´ mental workload for ship handling based on salivary NO3−

The evaluation of mental workload/ performance has usually depended on professionals (captain, pilot) who have a lot of experience on board. We are mainly attempting to evaluate a ship navigator´s mental workload based on a physiological index. The physiological indices, heart rate variability (R-R interval), nasal temperature, and salivary amylase, sharply respond to events of ship handling. Moreover, we have found a possibility of salivary NO₃^- as a good index for evaluating the mental workload. The salivary NO₃^- is expected to have a specific characteristic to represent a quick response on the spot and the trend like moving average. We confirmed the response of students for simulator based training, and we were carried out the experiment for professionals on a real ship. This paper proposes that salivary NO₃^- shows a navigator´s mental workload for ship handling in a ship handling simulator (simulator), and it is compared with heart rate variability. This research, to evaluate the mental workload of navigators using salivary NO₃^-, is first challenge worldwide.