A study of the relationship between EEG and situation awareness of forklift drivers in task scenarios with different complexities

Situation awareness (SA) loss in forklift operations is a major human error source. Accurately assessing the SA levels of forklift drivers is essential. While physiological sensors such as electroencephalography (EEG) have been proposed to measure SA, the EEG-SA relationship remains unclear. This study analyzed EEG data from 11 forklift operators, comparing EEG states between high and low SA groups. Using permutation tests, the study assessed multi-band EEG correlations (F, C, P, O regions) with SA and examined how scenario complexity influenced these relationships. Results revealed distinct EEG patterns (θ, α and β waves in F, C, P and O regions) between high and low SA groups: θ / β, θ / (α + β) in the C and P regions, and θ / β, (α + θ) / (α + β) in the O region consistently correlating with SA across scenarios - and these indicators strengthened with scenario complexity. The findings advance EEG-based SA assessment, aiding accurate SA measurement in real-world settings.