The emergency exit sign can be made more effective with advance information on the evacuation route

Abstract

Often after opening an emergency door, an evacuee may need to turn right or left or go further straight ahead to reach the emergency exit. This study examined whether the currently-adopted emergency exit sign could be made more effective with advance information on the evacuation route. The current sign was modified by adding a left-bent or right-bent arrow to its left-facing or right-facing version respectively. In a computer-simulated evacuation task, participants were required to decide as quickly as possible which direction to turn after going through the door under the current or the modified exit sign. The modified sign was shown to be effective in leading the participants to choose the direction consistent with its directional arrow, whereas the current sign, whether left-facing or right-facing, showed no such effect. However, in a recognition memory test given immediately following the completion of the simulated evacuation task, many of those who had successfully chosen the direction suggested by the modified sign falsely selected the current left-facing sign as what they had seen.