Citation

Hughes PK, Cole BL. Aust. Road Res. 1984; 14(1): 1-9.

Affiliation

Victorian Coll of Optometry, Carlton, Victoria, Aust

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, Australian Road Research Board ARRB)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

It is argued that conspicuity cannot be regarded simply as an object property determined by the physical properties of the object and its background but that the state of arousal and attention of the observer must be taken into account. Two kinds of conspicuity are defined: attention conspicuity, which is the capacity of the target object to attract attention when the observer's attention has not been specifically directed to the likely occurrence of the target object, and search conspicuity, which refers to the ease with which a target object is located when the observer is directed to search for it. A field trial was conducted to estimate the attention and search conspicuity of road traffic control devices. The road environment is shown to have a profound effect on both kinds of conspicuity.

Language: en