A network-based team situation awareness enhanced training strategy and experimental validation in simulated maritime collaboration

This study proposes a network-based training strategy to improve the team situation awareness (TSA) of crews in complex socio-technical systems. Eighty-four participants were recruited and divided into twenty-one teams to receive different trainings, including network-less training (NLT), information network-based training (IBT), and information-social network-based training (ISBT). Simulated tasks were performed under both routine working and emergency scenarios. Subjective measures and behavioural measures were used to assess TSA, team task performance, and team mental workload. The experimental results indicate that the network-based training can significantly enhance TSA. Moreover, ISBT teams performed better than IBT teams in both routine working and emergency scenarios while outperformed NLT teams only in the emergency scenario. In addition, the IBT and ISBT proposed in this study did not result in higher team workload costs when enhancing TSA. This study provides new insights into enhancing TSA through optimising team training.