Basic study of a student's mental workload for simulator training using salivary amylase activity

Mental workload is useful to evaluate performance of ship bridge teammates: a captain, a duty officer, a helmsman, and a pilot. The physiological indices, heart rate variability (R-R interval) and nasal temperature, represent their mental workload in ship handling. Moreover, we have found a salivary amylase as a good index for evaluating the mental workload of the navigator. The salivary amylase activity gets fine response quickly on the spot. However, we do not confirm the response of a student yet. This paper proposes that salivary amylase activity shows a student's mental workload of ship handling using a simulator.