Electrophysiological evidence for the effectiveness of images versus text in warnings
Abstract
Warning sign plays an important role in risk avoidance. Many studies have found that images are better warnings than text, while others have revealed flaws of image-only warning signs. To better understand the factors underlying the effectiveness of different types of warning signs (image only, text only, or image and text), this study adopted event-related potential technology to explore the differences at the neurocognitive level using the oddball paradigm and the Go/No-go paradigm. Together, the behavioral and electroencephalogram results showed that text-only warnings had the lowest effectiveness, but there was little difference between the image-only and image-and-text warnings. The differences in the effects of the three warning signs were mainly in the areas of attention and cognitive control, implying differences in the underlying cognitive processes. Therefore, in the design of warning signs, the effects of different design attributes on cognitive processing should be taken into account based on actual needs in order to improve the effectiveness of the signs.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2023
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202302271934Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28230-x
Language
English
Published in
Scientific Reports
Citation
- Lin, W., Li, Z., Zhang, X., Gao, Y., & Lin, J. (2023). Electrophysiological evidence for the effectiveness of images versus text in warnings. Scientific Reports, 13, Article 1278. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28230-x
Additional information about funding
This paper is funded by a Research Grant of School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (4-ZZNP).
Copyright© The Author(s) 2023