Decision-Making for Adaptive Digital Escape Route Signage Competing with Environmental Cues: Cognitive Tunneling in High-Stress Evacuation Situations

Author(s):  
Sonja Th. Kwee-Meier ◽  
Wolfgang Kabuss ◽  
Alexander Mertens ◽  
Christopher M. Schlick
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7903
Author(s):  
Young-Hoon Bae ◽  
Jong-Yeong Son ◽  
Ryun-Seok Oh ◽  
Hye-Kyoung Lee ◽  
Yoon-Ha Lee ◽  
...  

This study analyzed the decision-making times (DMTs) of participants at T-type indoor intersections according to the horizontal/vertical installation locations and the arrow directions of escape route signs. A total of 120 university students participated in the study. We analyzed the DMTs and following rates (FRs) required for the participants to observe the visual stimuli of the signs installed in front of the T-type indoor intersections and then properly select a path according to the arrow direction of the signs. The results are as follows: (1) the participants exhibited shorter DMTs for the right arrow direction of the signs, (2) the Simon effect occurred when the horizontal installation location of the signs was more than 60 cm away from the center of the T-type indoor intersection on both sides, (3) the DMTs of participants increased when the vertical installation location of the signs was low. Finally, we proposed an optimal installation location of the signs to support the shortest DMTs at T-type indoor intersections. It is expected that the results of this study will provide a database of DMTs, based on the locations of the signs during emergency evacuations, and will be utilized to improve the installation guidelines and regulations of signs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-48
Author(s):  
Chiara Mocenni ◽  
Giuseppe Montefrancesco ◽  
Silvia Tiezzi

This article develops a formal model of spontaneous recovery from pathological addiction. It regards addiction as a progressive susceptibility to stochastic environmental cues and introduce a cognitive appraisal process in individual decision making depending on past addiction experiences and on their future expected consequences. This process affects consumption choices in two ways. The reward from use decreases with age. At the same time, cognitive incentives emerge that reduce the probability of making mistakes. In addition to modeling the role of cue-triggered mistakes in individual decision making, the analysis highlights the role of other factors such as subjective self-evaluation and cognitive control. The implications for social policy and for the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence are discussed.


Author(s):  
Inbal Hakman ◽  
Alex Mintz ◽  
Steven B. Redd

Poliheuristic theory addresses the “why” and “how” of decision making. It focuses on how decision makers use heuristics en route to choice by addressing both the process and the choice related to the decision task. More specifically, decision makers use a two-stage process wherein a more complicated choice set is reduced to one that is more manageable through the use of these heuristics, or cognitive shortcuts. In the second stage, decision makers are more likely to employ maximizing and analytical strategies in making a choice. Poliheuristic theory also focuses on the political consequences of decision making, arguing that decision makers will refrain from making politically costly decisions. While poliheuristic theory helps us better understand how decision makers process information and make choices, it does not specifically address how choice sets and decision matrices were created in the first place. Applied decision analysis (ADA) rectifies this shortcoming by focusing on how leaders create particular choice sets and matrices and then how they arrive at a choice. It does so by first identifying the decision maker’s choice set or decision matrix; that is, the alternatives or options available to choose from as well as the criteria or dimensions upon which the options will be evaluated. ADA then focuses on uncovering the decision maker’s decision code through the use of multiple decision models. Combining poliheuristic theory with ADA allows researchers to more fully explain decision making in general and crisis decision making in particular. An application of poliheuristic theory and ADA to decision making pertaining to the Fukushima nuclear disaster reveals that even in this high-stress crisis environment decision makers followed the two-stage process as predicted by poliheuristic theory. More specifically, in the first stage, decision makers simplified the decision task by resorting to cognitive heuristics (i.e., decision making shortcuts) to eliminate politically damaging alternatives such as voluntary evacuation. In the second stage, decision makers conducted a more analytical evaluation of the compulsory evacuation options.


Author(s):  
Jenny Lindholm ◽  
Klas Backholm ◽  
Joachim Högväg

This chapter presents a usability study of a prototype tool intended to support information gathering during crisis situations, thus helping professional key communicators monitor social media content from several media outlets in the same workspace. The main aim of the study is to investigate how situation awareness can be optimized for key communicators during emergencies. It does so by taking a mixed method approach on usability testing and by combining emotional responses and cognitive processes to better understand how the user perceives the tool. The study contributes to the field by illustrating the importance of designing for good situation awareness in services/platforms intended for crisis communication. A key conclusion is that the use of human-computer interaction (HCI) and usability studies are central for improving digital services in emergencies. High-stress contexts require rapid decision-making and leave no room for improvisation and perception. Therefore, comprehending digital solutions correctly is crucial for overall situation awareness.


Author(s):  
Juzer M. Tyebkhan

What is the impact on a Muslim family of having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)? This chapter is written by a Muslim neonatologist, trained in the United Kingdom and Canada, who now works in a level III NICU in Edmonton, Canada. In addition to describing religious requirements and community traditions, the author suggests ways that these can be incorporated into the care of Muslim babies and families in our high-stress, technology-based NICUs. As a member of the Dawoodi Bohra sect (a subset of the Shi’a Muslim community), the author provides a brief background of the community’s spiritual heritage and their viewpoint on modern medical treatment. The living spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohras, the Da’i, is their source of authoritative decision making. The author explains how and why decision making in situations of critical illness is referred to the Da’i for His trusted advice.


1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (13) ◽  
pp. 1019-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Smith ◽  
P.A. Hancock

The evolution of automated and semi-automated systems is rendering continuous regulation relatively obsolete, leaving periodic “management” interventions as the main way in which operators exercise control. Consequently, the human is now more frequently required to respond in uncertain, unusual, or “emergency” conditions. Such circumstances connote high stress environments. Consequently, the research reported here investigates expertise at decision making under stress. The source of stress is ubiquitous in occurrence, namely time pressure. We present a process model that explains and predicts the decision behavior of skilled operators as they manage risk under time stress. The model identifies three components of decision making, (1) attention, (2) assessment, and (3) intervention. Attention (1) scans widely among information displays and focuses action narrowly upon one of three procedures for (2) assessing the attended information. Separate procedures assess (α) the risks posed by the environment, (β) risks generated by interacting with the environment, and (α) uncertainty about those risks. The uniquely appropriate intervention (3) is selected by a small set of rules that match heuristically the assessments of risk and uncertainty to a short list of alternative actions. The model is validated with respect to the operation of skilled operators in the domain of currency exchange. In comparing performance versus simulation data, the model identifies the one procedure that resists automation - the assessment of risks posed by the environment. This assessment involves causal arguments that often rely upon extensive domain knowledge. In contrast, attention to displays, heuristic matching, and the procedures for assessing uncertainty and the risk of interaction can be delegated to an automated decision support system. This result has clear implications for the the design of systems to support skilled decision making under emergency conditions: decision support systems for dynamic environments like currency trading must notify the operator of the occurrence of system parameters that require assessments of environmental risk and incorporate these assessments into automated procedures that recommend appropriate interventions.


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