TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Effects of competing environmental variables and signage on route-choices in simulated everyday and emergency wayfinding situations
JO  - Ergonomics
A1  - Vilar, Elisângela
A1  - Rebelo, Francisco
A1  - Noriega, Paulo
A1  - Duarte, Emília
A1  - Mayhorn, Christopher B.
SP  - 511
EP  - 524
VL  - 57
IS  - 4
N2  - This study examined the relative influence of environmental variables (corridor width and brightness) and signage (directional and exit signs), when presented in competition, on participants' route-choices in two situational variables (everyday vs. emergency), during indoor wayfinding in virtual environments. A virtual reality-based methodology was used. Thus, participants attempted to find a room (everyday situation) in a virtual hotel, followed by a fire-related emergency egress (emergency situation). Different behaviours were observed. In the everyday situation, for no-signs condition, participants choose mostly the wider and brighter corridors, suggesting a heavy reliance on the environmental affordances. Conversely, for signs condition, participants mostly complied with signage, suggesting a greater reliance on the signs rather than on the environmental cues. During emergency, without signage, reliance on environmental affordances seems to be affected by the intersection type. In the sign condition, the reliance on environmental affordances that started strong decreases along the egress route.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0014-0139
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2014.895054
ID  - ref1
ER  -