2021/03/04 by Jan Theeuwes · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Cognitive Science and Education Research #Color perception and design #Safety Warnings and Signage
paper · pdf · doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00281-6
openalex publication_date 2021/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
In 1995, Theeuwes and Godthelp published a paper called "self-explaining roads," in which they argued for the development of a new concept for approaching safe road design. Since this publication, self-explaining roads (SER) became one of the leading principles in road design worldwide. The underlying notion is that roads should be designed in such a way that road users immediately know how to behave and what to expect on these roads. In other words, the environment should be designed such that it elicits adequate and safe behavior. The present paper describes in detail the theoretical basis for the idea of SER and explains why this has such a large effect on human behavior. It is argued that the notion is firmly rooted in the theoretical framework of statistical learning, subjective road categorization and the associated expectations. The paper illustrates some successful implementation and describes recent developments worldwide.