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Improving Memorability to Support Decision-Making During Fire Evacuations

Kinsey, Michael ; Menzemer, Leo Willem LU orcid ; Hulse, Lynn ; Hunt, Aoife ; Gwynne, Steve LU and Wan, Yanli (2025)
Abstract
Fires in buildings present life-threatening scenarios where rapid decision-making and timely evacuation are paramount. Significant advancements in understanding evacuation decision-making have been made, though little research addresses the role of memory in this process. Memory plays a crucial role in how individuals perceive, interpret, and respond to information which, during fire evacuation, could have life-threatening implications. This paper presents an overview of memory theory, considering processes for encoding, storing, and retrieving memories in the context of different information types used by people. Memory errors associated with forgetting and false memories are discussed. We present the decision-making process during fire... (More)
Fires in buildings present life-threatening scenarios where rapid decision-making and timely evacuation are paramount. Significant advancements in understanding evacuation decision-making have been made, though little research addresses the role of memory in this process. Memory plays a crucial role in how individuals perceive, interpret, and respond to information which, during fire evacuation, could have life-threatening implications. This paper presents an overview of memory theory, considering processes for encoding, storing, and retrieving memories in the context of different information types used by people. Memory errors associated with forgetting and false memories are discussed. We present the decision-making process during fire evacuations, identifying areas where memory impacts each stage. Contextual categories are presented showing key areas where people obtain information during fire evacuation including Training, Physical Environment, and Social contexts. Based on memory theory and these categories, literature was reviewed to identify memorability methods with examples to improve the likelihood information could be remembered during fire evacuation for each contextual category. The insights provide recommendations for further research to identify the efficacy of proposed measures for developing more effective training programmes, building designs, and information systems to enhance safety and improve the likelihood people respond appropriately during fire evacuations. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
pages
23 pages
DOI
10.2139/ssrn.5221477
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bbe450a0-554b-4168-9b96-56fbf75cd0c9
date added to LUP
2025-04-29 16:22:43
date last changed
2025-05-05 13:29:17
@misc{bbe450a0-554b-4168-9b96-56fbf75cd0c9,
  abstract     = {{Fires in buildings present life-threatening scenarios where rapid decision-making and timely evacuation are paramount. Significant advancements in understanding evacuation decision-making have been made, though little research addresses the role of memory in this process. Memory plays a crucial role in how individuals perceive, interpret, and respond to information which, during fire evacuation, could have life-threatening implications. This paper presents an overview of memory theory, considering processes for encoding, storing, and retrieving memories in the context of different information types used by people. Memory errors associated with forgetting and false memories are discussed. We present the decision-making process during fire evacuations, identifying areas where memory impacts each stage. Contextual categories are presented showing key areas where people obtain information during fire evacuation including Training, Physical Environment, and Social contexts. Based on memory theory and these categories, literature was reviewed to identify memorability methods with examples to improve the likelihood information could be remembered during fire evacuation for each contextual category. The insights provide recommendations for further research to identify the efficacy of proposed measures for developing more effective training programmes, building designs, and information systems to enhance safety and improve the likelihood people respond appropriately during fire evacuations.}},
  author       = {{Kinsey, Michael and Menzemer, Leo Willem and Hulse, Lynn and Hunt, Aoife and Gwynne, Steve and Wan, Yanli}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  title        = {{Improving Memorability to Support Decision-Making During Fire Evacuations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5221477}},
  doi          = {{10.2139/ssrn.5221477}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}