Seemingly simple acts can go terribly wrong. Sometimes they result in litigation. Forensic human factors based in cognitive science can reveal some limitations in human perception, decision making, and action and how the design of things can fail to accommodate our limitations. The case studies indicate how design or maintenance could have prevented the injury incidents.
FischoffB. (1977). Perceived informativeness of facts. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3, 349–358.
2.
FriedmannK. (1988). The effect of adding symbols to written warning labels on user behavior and recall. Human Factors, 50, 507–515.
3.
HarrellW. H. (2004). The impact of pedestrian visibility and assertiveness on motorist yielding. Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 353–360.
4.
HindsP. (1999). The curse of expertise. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 5, 205–221.
5.
KienanG. (1987). Decision making under stress: Scanning of alternatives under controllable and uncontrollable threats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 639–644.
6.
KlauerS. G.DingusT. A.NealeV. L.SudweeksJ. D.RamseyD. J. (2006). The impact of driver inattention on near-crash/crash risk: An analysis using the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study data (Report No. DOT HS 810 594). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
7.
LandM. F. (2006). Eye movements and the control of actions in everyday life. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, 25, 296–324.
8.
LaugheryK. R.YoungS. L. (1991). An eye scan analysis of accessing product warning information. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting (pp. 585–589). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
9.
LipshitzR. (1997). Naturalistic decision making perspectives on decision errors. In ZsambokC. C.KleinG. (Eds.), Naturalistic decision making (pp. 151–160). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.
McPheeL. C.ScialfaC. T.DennisW. M.HoG.CairdJ. K. (2004). Age differences in visual search for traffic signs during a simulated conversation. Human Factors, 46, 674–685.
11.
NasarJ.HechtP.WenerR. (2008). Mobile telephones, distracted attention, and pedestrian safety. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 40, 69–75.
National Safety Council. (2009). Injury facts. Itasca, IL: Author.
16.
NeiderM. B.McCarleyJ. S.CrowellJ. A.KaczmarskiaH.KramerA. F. (2010). Pedestrians, vehicles, and cell phones. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42, 589–594.
17.
OlsonP. L.DewarR.FarberE. (2010). Forensic aspects of driver perception and response. Tucson, AZ: Lawyers and Judges.
18.
OtsuboS. M. (1988). A behavioral study of warning labels for consumer products: Perceived danger and use of pictographs. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting (pp. 536–540). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
19.
PatlaA. E.AdkinA.MartinC.HoldenR.PrenticeS. (1996). Characteristics of voluntary visual sampling of the environment for safe locomotion over different terrains. Experimental Brain Research, 112, 513–522.
20.
RogersW. A.LamsonN.RousseauG. K. (2000). Warning research: An integrative perspective. Human Factors, 42, 102–139.
21.
StrawbridgeJ. A. (1986). The influence of position, highlighting, and imbedding on warning effectiveness. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 30th Annual Meeting (pp. 716–720). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
22.
StrayerD. L.DrewsF. A. (2004). Profiles in driver distraction: Effects of cell phone conversations on younger and older drivers. Human Factors, 46, 640–649.
23.
SzalmaJ. L.HancockP. A.QuinnS. (2008). A meta-analysis of the effect of time pressure on human performance. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52nd Annual Meeting (pp. 1513–1516). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
24.
TverskyA.KahnemanD. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1124–1131.
25.
WogalterM. S.GodfreyS. S.FontennelleG. A.DesaulniersD. R.RothsteinP. R.LaugheryK. R. (1987). Effectiveness of warnings. Human Factors, 29, 599–612.
