A LABORATORY COMPARISON OF SYMBOL AND WORD ROADWAY SIGNS

AN EXPERIMENT IS DESCRIBED WHICH WAS DESIGNED TO DETERMINE A SUBJECT'S ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE THE MEANING OF AN UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL SIGN AND TO COMPARE THE GLANCE LEGIBILITY OF SYMBOL VERSUS WORK MESSAGE SIGNS. DETAILS ARE GIVEN OF THE TEST PROCEDURE USED; RESULTS SHOW THAT SYMBOLIC SIGNS (EUROPEAN SYSTEM) ARE MORE EFFECTIVE IN TRANSMITTING A MESSAGE THAN THE AMERICAN SYSTEM WHICH USES WORD SIGNS. /RRL/