Publications

2019

Taylor, J. R. I., & Wogalter, M. S. (2019). Specific egress directives enhance print and speech fire warnings. Applied Ergonomics, 80, 57-66.

2015

Taylor, J. R. I. & Wogalter, M. S. (2015). Specific evacuation instructions enhance spoken fire warnings. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 56, 1486-1490. (Presentation, Received best student paper safety tg award) 

Most building fire alarms are presented auditorily and almost all are simple non-verbal sounds, such as bells and buzzers—despite the availability of inexpensive, feasible, voice-presentation technology. One advantage of speech or vocal signals is that they can convey specific avoidance instructions. This study examined the content (wording) of spoken fire alarms. Sixty-five participants rated 90 spoken fire evacuation warnings plus two non-speech sounds (white noise and a recording of an actual [simple, nonverbal] fire alarm) on a 9-point scale (0=not at all, 8=extremely) on their acceptability as a building fire alarm. Significantly higher ratings were assigned to spoken than to non-spoken warnings, except the recorded fire alarm had significantly higher ratings compared to the shortest speech warning (“Fire, Fire”). Speech warnings that provided evacuation instructions (e.g., “Use Stairs”) and communicated the need to evacuate right away (e.g., “Exit Now”) were rated significantly higher than those lacking that information. Implications of these results are discussed.

Wogalter, M. S. & Taylor, J. R. I. (2015). Incorrect beliefs about start/stop ignition systems in automotive vehicles. Proceedings of the 19th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association, 1424-1428.  

This research examines knowledge and awareness of aspects associated with completely electronic ignition systems (with start/stop buttons) in internal-combustion vehicle engines.  A scenario was presented to participants where the start/stop button is not depressed to turn off the engine before leaving their vehicle in a garage. Open-ended responses showed that some people had some basic knowledge about what could happen in this scenario, but many people did not. The results suggest that many people have incorrect or incomplete knowledge about how these systems work.  Most do not mention the severe consequences of inadvertently failing to press the engine button before exiting a vehicle in an enclosed environment, i.e., the build up of carbon monoxide. Many participants believed the vehicle would give a warning or turn off by itself after a period of time. Implications for design-engineering solutions and multi-modal warnings are discussed.

 Practitioner Summary:  Vehicle ignition systems are being made “easy to use” but violate principles of HFE that would avoid foreseeable and dangerous happenstances.  Inadvertent failure to press the start/stop button on completely electronic key systems in enclosed environments, such as residential garages could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning.  Manufacturers and government regulators should consider having more safeguards to prevent these and other hazardous consequences of completely electronic key systems.

 Keywords: vehicle, key, ignition, carbon monoxide, omission

2013

Harrington, C. N., Taylor, J. R. I., Cowley, J. A., & Wogalter, M. S. (2013). Assessing conceptualizations of user friendliness for consumer products. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 57, 1338-1342.  

This study examines the conceptualizations of the user-friendliness of technology-based consumer products. Participants (n=205) were asked to evaluate 25 statements related to the topic of user-friendliness. Participants’ ratings indicated that statements concerning positive productivity levels and reliable displays (e.g. “I quickly learned how to use this product” or “I can find information quickly within the display”) received the highest ratings of user friendliness. Low user-friendliness was associated with systems deemed as complex or with longer durations of product adaptation and learning (e.g. “This product prevents me from choosing what I would like to do” or “I really have to concentrate to use this product”). A factor analysis of the data suggested four dimensions of user-friendliness: ease-of-use, delight, reliability and feedback. Design implications and possible human factors’ interventions for consumer products are discussed.

2012

Taylor, J. R. I. & Wogalter, M. S. (2012). Acceptability of evacuation instruction fire warnings. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 56, 1753-1757. (Presented poster at meeting)

The present research examined a set of fire warning statements that could be used to facilitate evacuation of a multi-story building by manipulating the statements’ wording and order. Participants (N = 105) evaluated how acceptable each of 13 statements would be in a fire emergency. Manipulated in the statements were two types of components: (a) 3 levels of egress immediacy: “exit now,” “exit immediately,” or none, and (b) 3 levels of egress directives: “use stairs,” “do not use elevator,” or none. Results showed that participants rated statements containing egress-immediacy and egress-directive components higher than statements without those components. There were no significant differences between the two egress immediacy components or between the two egress directives. An additional component order manipulation showed no effects. Implications and suggestions for future research on warning statement composition are discussed.

2011

Kim, S., Wogalter, M. S., & Taylor, J. R. I. (2011). Safety beliefs about consumer products. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55, 1778-1782. 

This study examined people’s safety perceptions concerning consumer products. Participants (n=129) were asked about their overall beliefs concerning safety of consumer products sold in the U.S. Beliefs regarding government and industry policies concerning safety were also collected. Results showed that participants gave ratings indicating believing that consumer products sold in the U.S. are safe. People tended to trust U.S. government’s policies towards product safety. However, participants’ responses indicate skepticism about manufacturers’ motivations. Implications for HF/E research in risk communication are discussed.

Taylor, J. R. I. & Wogalter, M. S. (2011). Effect of text format on determining tires’ date of manufacture. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55, 1318 - 1322.

Previous research indicates that most consumers are unaware that older tires can deteriorate and lead to tread separation which could result in crashes. Even if they were to know about this hazard, the task of determining the date of manufacture (DOM) on tires is difficult. In the U.S., consumers must decode a 4 digit number at the end of a longer U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) identification number in small, black print embossed onto black sidewalls. Eighty-three participants (45 students and 38 adult non-students) were asked to decode 6 different date of manufacture (DOM) markings. Analyses showed that people have difficulty with determining dates in the current U.S. DOT format and that date formats resembling common U.S. date representations were more understandable to participants. Additionally, only half of the participants reported having knowledge of tire aging issues and few have looked at the DOT identification number before participating in this research. Discussed are implications for date formatting, followed by guidance on designing a more consumer-friendly DOM.

Taylor, J. R. I. & Wogalter, M. S. (2011). Formatted text improves the communication of credit card information: Effects on response time. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55, 1298-1302. (Presented poster at meeting) 

Understanding basic credit card information can be important for maintaining secure personal finances. Although considerable human factors research has examined safety communications and warnings to avoid risk of personal injury, little human factors research has been conducted on communications associated with financial risk. This study explored whether human factors principles can be applied to credit card information intended for consumers. People’s decision-making performance was examined with respect to credit card application information given in two formats: less versus more structured format, with the latter involving information chunking and spacing. Participants (N=40) compared 16 pairs of credit card applications with the task of selecting one among each pair that was the better financial deal (i.e., that reduced financial risk or saved more money). Eight pairs had less formatting (in prose style) and eight pairs had more structured formatting. The results showed that the credit card applications with the more structured format significantly reduced comparison (decision) times but had only minor effects on response accuracy. Implications for formatting financial risk disclosures are offered.

2010

Wogalter, M. S., Israel, J. R., Kim, S., Morgan, E. R., Coleman, K. M. & West, J. (2010). Hazard connotation of fire safety terms. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 54, 1837-1840. (Gave presentation at meeting) 

Knowledge about the level of danger associated with fire hazards is crucial for avoiding injury when dealing with hazardous materials. Participants (N=107) comprised of undergraduate students and nonstudent adults rated 12 one- and two-word phrases based on the extent of fire hazard conveyed. Evaluated were four root words (Inflammable, Combustible, Flammable, and Explosive) combined with three qualifiers (no qualifier, Very, and Extremely). Inflammable has the same meaning as Flammable but was rated as if it was of very low flammability, consistent with previous research. Explosive was rated higher than the other root words but was followed closely by Flammable and Combustible, which themselves did not differ. By including qualifiers, there was an increased hazard connotation over the root word alone, with the qualifier Extremely producing significantly higher ratings than with the qualifier Very. Even though Inflammable was rated erroneously as low in flammability when Very or Extremely were added, participants (particularly nonstudents) gave higher ratings of hazard than the root word alone. Analyses including demographic variables showed the ratings of the terms interacted with student status and age, which were mainly due to how the term Inflammable was rated. The evidence suggests that Explosive is a good term to express severe fire hazard, and the confusing term Inflammable should be avoided as much as possible. The results give some guidance on terminology in warnings that could be useful in matching connotations of hazard words with different danger levels.