Information use by humans during dynamic route choice in virtual crowd evacuations

Bode, N. W. F.; Kemloh Wagoum, A. U.; Codling, E. A.

doi:10.1098/rsos.140410

Journal Article

FZJ-2016-03386

Information use by humans during dynamic route choice in virtual crowd evacuations

Bode, N. W. F. (Corresponding author) ; Kemloh Wagoum, A. U.FZJ* ; Codling, E. A.

2015
Royal Soc. Publ. London

Royal Society Open Science 2(1), 140410 (2015) [10.1098/rsos.140410]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/11678 doi:10.1098/rsos.140410

Abstract: We conducted a computer-based experiment with over 450 human participants and used a Bayesian model selection approach to explore dynamic exit route choice mechanisms of individuals in simulated crowd evacuations. In contrast to previous work, we explicitly explore the use of time-dependent and time-independent information in decision-making. Our findings suggest that participants tended to base their exit choices on time-dependent information, such as differences in queue lengths and queue speeds at exits rather than on time-independent information, such as differences in exit widths or exit route length. We found weak support for similar decision-making mechanisms under a stress-inducing experimental treatment. However, under this treatment participants were less able or willing to adjust their original exit choice in the course of the evacuation. Our experiment is not a direct test of behaviour in real evacuations, but it does highlight the role different types of information and stress play in real human decision-making in a virtual environment. Our findings may be useful in identifying topics for future study on real human crowd movements or for developing more realistic agent-based simulations.

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