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Response to emergency way-finding systems by people from different cultures

Troncoso, Jorge ; Nilsson, Daniel LU and Ronchi, Enrico LU orcid (2015) 6th international symposium: Human Behaviour in Fire, 2015 p.361-372
Abstract
Some colours might have different connotations depending on people’s cultural backgrounds. When talking about evacuation, the colour employed for exit signs and flashing lights plays a significant role because it is responsible for conveying a message to the evacuees, either danger or safety. The aims of this study are to evaluate the influence of red and green emergency way-finding systems on the way-finding decisions of people with different cultural backgrounds and to analyse the possible impact of the distance to the means of egress when having these kinds of systems. Experiments in which sixty persons participated, namely from China and from different European countries, were performed in a Virtual Reality environment. The results... (More)
Some colours might have different connotations depending on people’s cultural backgrounds. When talking about evacuation, the colour employed for exit signs and flashing lights plays a significant role because it is responsible for conveying a message to the evacuees, either danger or safety. The aims of this study are to evaluate the influence of red and green emergency way-finding systems on the way-finding decisions of people with different cultural backgrounds and to analyse the possible impact of the distance to the means of egress when having these kinds of systems. Experiments in which sixty persons participated, namely from China and from different European countries, were performed in a Virtual Reality environment. The results suggest that, in case of an emergency situation, red and green have similar connotations for people from the two studied cultural backgrounds. More specifically, Chinese and Europeans seem to make their choice of exit in a comparable way, green being the colour of choice even when the distance to travel to the means of egress is longer. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Way-finding, emergency, culture, Virtual Reality
host publication
[Host publication title missing]
editor
Boyce, Karen
pages
361 - 372
publisher
Interscience Communications Ltd
conference name
6th international symposium: Human Behaviour in Fire, 2015
conference location
Cambridge, United Kingdom
conference dates
2015-09-28 - 2015-09-30
ISBN
978-0-9933933-0-3
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d2f954c9-3989-45a0-922d-903e2eb51cff (old id 8057091)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:35:06
date last changed
2021-02-09 10:15:20
@inproceedings{d2f954c9-3989-45a0-922d-903e2eb51cff,
  abstract     = {{Some colours might have different connotations depending on people’s cultural backgrounds. When talking about evacuation, the colour employed for exit signs and flashing lights plays a significant role because it is responsible for conveying a message to the evacuees, either danger or safety. The aims of this study are to evaluate the influence of red and green emergency way-finding systems on the way-finding decisions of people with different cultural backgrounds and to analyse the possible impact of the distance to the means of egress when having these kinds of systems. Experiments in which sixty persons participated, namely from China and from different European countries, were performed in a Virtual Reality environment. The results suggest that, in case of an emergency situation, red and green have similar connotations for people from the two studied cultural backgrounds. More specifically, Chinese and Europeans seem to make their choice of exit in a comparable way, green being the colour of choice even when the distance to travel to the means of egress is longer.}},
  author       = {{Troncoso, Jorge and Nilsson, Daniel and Ronchi, Enrico}},
  booktitle    = {{[Host publication title missing]}},
  editor       = {{Boyce, Karen}},
  isbn         = {{978-0-9933933-0-3}},
  keywords     = {{Way-finding; emergency; culture; Virtual Reality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{361--372}},
  publisher    = {{Interscience Communications Ltd}},
  title        = {{Response to emergency way-finding systems by people from different cultures}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}