Richard Wener

Mobile telephones, distracted attention, and pedestrian safety

Driver distraction is a major cause of traffic accidents, with mobile telephones as a key source of distraction. In two studies, we examined distraction of pedestrians associated with mobile phone use. The first had 60 participants walk along a prescribed route, with half of them conversing on a mobile phone, and the other half holding the phone awaiting a potential call, which never came. Comparison of the performance of the groups in recalling objects planted along the route revealed that pedestrians conversing recalled fewer objects than did those not conversing. The second study had three observers record pedestrian behavior of mobile phone users, i-pod users, and pedestrians with neither one at three crosswalks. Mobile phone users crossed unsafely into oncoming traffic significantly more than did either of the other groups. For pedestrians as with drivers, cognitive distraction from mobile phone use reduces situation awareness, increases unsafe behavior, putting pedestrians at greater risk for accidents, and crime victimization.

A morning stroll: Levels of physical activity in car and mass transit commuting

Walking as part of the commute has been suggested as a source of healthful moderate activity, although there has been little empirical study to verify this supposition or determine whether one mode is superior to others. This cross-sectional study assessed differences between car and train commuters in level of physical activity. One hundred eleven train and car commuters were asked to wear a pedometer for one week of commuting on their regular route plus complete a standardized self-report physical activity index. Train commuters walked an average of 30% more steps per day, reported having walked for a period of 10 minutes or more while traveling significantly more often, and were 4 times more likely to walk 10,000 steps per day than car commuters. Transportation mode can significantly affect the amount of physical activity commuters accumulate during the course of a typical work day without planned or coordinated exercise programs.

The Morning Rush Hour Predictability and Commuter Stress

Although it is obvious that commuting to work is stressful, it is not at all clear why this is so. This study examined the potential role of commute unpredictability in the stressfulness of the daily journey to work among a population of rail commuters. Men and women who perceived their commute to work as more unpredictable felt greater levels of stress and evidenced higher elevations of salivary cortisol. Expected differences in motivation in task performance did not occur. Limitations of these cross-sectional findings are discussed along with future research needs. The possible roles of commute predictability and stress in transportation mode choice are also delineated.

Rail Commuting Duration and Passenger Stress

Over 100 million Americans commute to work every weekday. Little is known, however, about how this aspect of work, which may indeed be the most stressful aspect of the job for some, affects human health and well-being. The authors studied a sample of 208 male and female suburban rail commuters who took the train to Manhattan, New York. The greater the duration of the commute, the larger the magnitude of salivary cortisol elevations in reference to resting baseline levels, the less the commuters persistence on a task at the end of the commute, and the greater the levels of perceived stress. These effects were not moderated by gender. Commuting stress is an important and largely overlooked aspect of environmental health.

Designing Buildings for Real Occupants: An Agent-Based Approach

Building information modeling is only beginning to incorporate human factors, although buildings are sites where humans and technologies interact with globally significant consequences. Some buildings fail to perform as their designers intended, in part because users do not or cannot properly operate the building, and some occupants behave differently than designers expect. Innovative buildings, e.g., green buildings, are particularly susceptible to usability problems. This paper presents a framework for prospectively measuring the usability of designs before buildings are constructed, while there is still time to improve the design. The framework, which was implemented as an agent-based computer simulation model, tests how well buildings are likely to perform, given realistic occupants. An illustrative model for lighting design shows that this modeling approach has practical efficacy, demonstrating that, to the extent that users exhibit heterogeneous behaviors and preferences, designs that allow greater local control and ease of operation perform better.

Commuting Stress: Psychophysiological Effects of a Trip and Spillover into the Workplace

This study took advantage of a major improvement to the infrastructure of a commuter rail line to conduct a field study examining the effects of that change on commuter stress. The study used a multimethod approach, employing self- and significant other—report data, behavioral measures, and physiological measures of stress. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data were collected with a pretest—posttest design including both within- and between-group comparisons. The results on psychophysiological, self-report, and job strain measures revealed that those commuters using improved transit service showed reduced stress in the postchange period and those staying with the previous service remained constant. Commuters who switched to the new train service also experienced a reduced level of job strain after the implementation of the line. A subgroup of rail passengers with elevated sensitivity to commuting conditions were also uncovered. On both a behavioral index of motivation and perceived job strain, women who h...

Improving environmental information: Effects of signs on perceived crowding and behavior

The studV examined ways of modifying perceptions and use of a high density environment, without changing actual density levels. In particular, the effects of adding information cues were observed. Several signs identifying the location of activities and describing visitor registration procedures were installed in the crowded lobby of a federal correctional center, as the result of some findings from a post-occupancy evaluation. Attitudes and behaviors of visitors in the lobby were measured before and after installation of the signs. The behavior of visitors was observed from the moment they entered the lobby until all registration forms were completed. Visitors were asked to rate the lobby environment and the institutions staff on a number of seven-point scales. The presence of the signs significantly reduced perceived crowding, discomfort, anger, and confusion, as well as the amount of time needed to complete the registration process. The signs also tended to reduce the number of wrong turns, requests for information, and confused gestures by visitors. The study demonstrates the role cognition may play in altering the perception of crowding and ameliorating some of its negative consequences. Implications for cognitive models of crowding are discussed.

Innovative Correctional Environments A User Assessment

The results of evaluations of two specially designed federal detention centers are presented. While the designs of the two institutions had different strengths and weaknesses, inmate responses to the environments were similar in several critical areas. Both facilities appeared to provide atmospheres perceived as less stressful, less threatening, and more comfortable than most jails. There was little evidence of violent or destructive behavior. Both facilities had problems related to space restriction and boredom. Important design issues included the ability of planners to accurately predict eventual use of space, and the design of spaces which allow user control of environmental conditions.

Evaluation of correctional environments

This article describes an effort to develop and test a standardized, generic set of evaluation instruments for assessing behavioral effects of the design of correctional institutions. The goal was to provide a system for rapid, efficient, and comprehensive environmental evaluation. The system was to produce information useful to individual institutions any yield pooled data from many institutions concerning environmental influences on behavior. Instruments were developed to obtain attitudinal and environmental perception data, to perform behavioral observations, to record information about the physical setting, to assess organization type and style, and obtain archival data. Portions of the data from two case studies in which these instruments were pilot tested are presented in this article.

Three Generations of Evaluation and Design of Correctional Facilities

This article explores the use of information from behaviorally based evaluations in aiding the evolution of a design prototype over several generations. The input from successive evaluations of facilities continually improved the fit between the physical setting and the organizational and behavioral needs of various user groups. The focus of this report is to trace in detail the way in which the experiences in an innovatively designed correctional facility, as documented in a postoccupancy evaluation, influenced the design of another facility. The second facility was itself evaluated, and the results led to further changes in the generic prototype. In general, the second evaluation tended to validate many of the recommendations of first evaluation, extending understanding of design- behavior relationships in that setting. Implications for the process of data-based design, and for the potential uses of evaluation research across setting types are discussed.