Predictors of Pictorial Symbol Comprehension

Abstract

Open-ended comprehension testing is a commonly-recommended form of evaluation for safety symbols, but such testing can be costly in terms of time, effort and expense. The present study examines two alternative rating methods that can be used to approximate open-ended comprehension results. The first method, used previously in the literature, had participants estimate the percentage of the population that would correctly interpret the symbol's meaning. The second method involved providing participants with the symbol and its meaning and having them provide a rating of the correspondence between the two. Results demonstrated that both ratings correlated highly with participants' open-ended comprehension results. The present study suggests the utility of alternatives to open-ended testing, especially in the early stages of a symbol's development cycle.