Risk-Taking Propensity During a Prolonged Voyage at Sea: A Simulator Experiment Study

Long-term isolation and rotating watch-keeping schedule in extended voyage might impact seafarers’ risk-taking propensity. The present study aimed to explore how seafarer’s risk-taking propensity varies with the prolonged voyage. 12 subjects were recruited to commit a prolonged “voyage” in a self-developed maritime chamber simulator. They lived and worked together following a rotating watch-standing schedule. Social isolation was realized by cutting off the communication between inside and outside world. Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) and Sensation Seeking Scale V (SSSV) were adopted as behavioral and self-assessed measures of risk-taking. Participants completed these two assessments before the “voyage” (baseline), at five different time points during the “voyage” and after the “voyage” (post-voyage). Number of explosions and adjusted number of pumps, which represent the riskiness on BART, decreased with the ongoing of the voyage, though the magnitude of the declination is small in size. Accordingly, the scores on SSS and its four subscales, especially the thrill and adventure seeking (TAS) subscale, also declined with the voyage. The results implicated that the sleep deprivation caused by the rotating shift and the stimulation deprivation caused by isolation together would reduce people’s riskiness in decision making and the willingness to engage in high-risk and sensational activities as the prolonged voyage going on.