Team cognition in remote maritime operations: a scoping review and cross-domain theoretical synthesis

As the global maritime industry accelerates its digital transformation, remote maritime operations are increasingly dependent on complex, distributed socio-technical systems. Safe and effective performance in these high-stakes environments relies heavily on collective team cognition rather than on individual decision-making alone. Despite its critical importance, the conceptualisation and measurement of team cognition in this domain have remained fragmented and underdeveloped. To address this gap, a comprehensive scoping review was recently conducted, synthesizing decades of research across cognitive psychology, engineering, and operational applications.

The review, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR), evaluated records from major digital databases including SCOPUS, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost. Initial database searches yielded 162 records published between 2010 and 2025. Following rigorous screening, retrieval assessments, and expert recommendations, a final corpus of 51 publications—comprising 35 journal articles and 16 conference proceedings—was selected for in-depth thematic analysis using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach.

Theoretical Foundations and Core Findings

The synthesis revealed five primary themes: (1) situation awareness and its measurement and modelling, (2) collective team cognition, learning, and training, (3) human-autonomy teaming and remote collaboration, (4) visualisation and interface design for shared cognition, and (5) maritime applications of distributed cognition.

The empirical evidence demonstrates a paradigm shift from static, individual-based cognitive models toward dynamic, interaction-driven, and system-level accounts. In modern remote operation centers (ROCs) and Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), team cognition does not reside within a single operator. Instead, it arises organically from ongoing interactions among human agents, technical artefacts, and environmental constraints.

Historically, maritime safety investigations have underscored the dangers of cognitive isolation. High-profile real-life incidents—such as the 2018 collision between the KNM Helge Ingstad and the Sola TS, or the 2017 collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal—highlight systemic vulnerabilities. In both cases, multiple qualified operators failed to function as a cohesive cognitive system. Trapped by confirmation bias, fixed mental models, and fragmented communication channels, bridge teams and tactical combat information centers failed to process disconfirming information or maintain unified situation awareness.

Chronology and Methodological Evolution

The research timeline captured by the scoping review highlights a significant surge in scholarly attention during 2020 and 2021, coinciding with rapid advancements in maritime autonomy and remote digitalization. Methodologically, the field has evolved from isolated freeze-probe techniques, such as the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Scale (SAGAT), toward advanced network-based analytical frameworks.

Tools such as Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (EAST) and Situation Awareness with Network (SAWN) have allowed researchers to map information propagation and communication pathways across complex socio-technical networks. Furthermore, ontology-based frameworks are increasingly being applied in autonomous shipping to formalize decision rules and reconcile discrepancies between individual operator awareness and authority-based vessel traffic services (VTS).

Human-Autonomy Teaming and Structural Challenges

As uncrewed vessels and remote operating centers become commonplace, human-autonomy teaming (HAT) introduces distinct cognitive hurdles. Studies analyzed within the review indicate that synthetic agents frequently exhibit a lack of anticipation and coordination during unexpected operational roadblocks, leading to structural rigidity.

Furthermore, human operators interacting with autonomous systems are highly susceptible to automation bias, complacency, and skill degradation over time. The perceived artificiality of synthetic team members has also been shown to negatively impact subjectively perceived team cognition, reinforcing the necessity for adaptive automation architectures that dynamically allocate tasks based on real-time operator workload and intent.

Industry Implications and Future Directions

The implications of this comprehensive synthesis extend across three primary pillars of the maritime sector: design, training, and regulation.

For system designers, the findings mandate a departure from engineering-driven console layouts toward human-centered, inward-facing configurations and active group-view displays that support distributed sensemaking. Training programs must shift focus from individual skill proficiency to collective team processes, cross-training, and rigorous debriefing protocols that foster psychological safety and metacognitive awareness. Finally, maritime regulators are urged to implement system-based risk management and social network analyses—such as EAST and ontology-based modelling—to identify communication bottlenecks and evaluate crew competence prior to operational deployment.

Future research must prioritize longitudinal validation of network-based measurement techniques in real-world operational contexts, alongside targeted intervention studies in maritime human-autonomy teams. By realigning technical design, personnel training, and regulatory frameworks with the principles of distributed cognition, the global maritime sector can effectively bridge existing operational gaps and enhance overall safety and resilience.