Publication statistics
Pub. period:1989-1996
Pub. count:16
Number of co-authors:25
Co-authors
Number of publications with 3 favourite co-authors:
Curt C. Braun:7Michael S. Wogalter:5Robert S. Kennedy:3 Productive colleagues
N. Clayton Silver's 3 most productive colleagues in number of publications:
Michael S. Wogalte..:60Kay M. Stanney:37Robert S. Kennedy:33
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N. Clayton Silver
Publications by N. Clayton Silver (bibliography)
McAlindon, Peter J., Stanney, Kay M. and Silver, N. Clayton (1996): The Keybowl: An Ergonomically Designed Document Processing Device. In: Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies 1996. pp. 86-93.
“This paper discloses preliminary findings and provides a discussion of a newly designed alphanumeric input device called the Keybowl. The Keybowl was designed and developed primarily as an alternative input device to allow users of various upper extremity disabilities to effectively type, interact with, and navigate current computer interface designs. In addition, the Keybowl's unique characteristics of adapting to the user's needs may provide a solution to the multi-million dollar a year problem of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) as it relates to typing. The Keybowl totally eliminates finger movement, minimizes wrist movement, and uses the concept of concurrent independent inputs (i.e., chording) in which two domes are moved laterally to type. Initial results indicated that users of the Keybowl typed an average of 52% of their regular QWERTY flatboard keying speed in as little as five hours. With regard to ergonomic advantage, Keybowl typists' flexion/extension wrist movements were reduced by an average of 81.5% when compared to typists using the QWERTY keyboard. Movements in the ulnar/radial plane were reduced by an average of 48%.”
© All rights reserved McAlindon et al. and/or ACM Press
Braun, Curt C., Glusker, Stephanie A., Holt, Ronda S. and Silver, N. Clayton (1995): Adding Consequence Information to Product Instructions: Changes in Hazard Perceptions. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 346-350.
“Product instructions represent one possible medium through which product hazard and safety information can be conveyed. Recent research has demonstrated that the likelihood of precautionary behavior increases when such behaviors are explicitly described within the product-use instructions. Although precautionary information has been provided within the instructions, some users are unable to translate this information into action. Moreover, the inclusion of explicit actions within product-use instructions has not been shown to influence perceptions of product related hazards. The present effort evaluated the utility of adding consequence information to product instructions. A sample of 193 participants evaluated the likelihood that they would be injured while using two different products displaying instructions that outlined only the actions to be performed, actions followed by consequences, consequences followed by actions, and actions with the product warning repeated within the instructions. The data revealed that instructions outlining the consequences before the actions yielded the highest likelihood of injury ratings. Measures of instruction complexity, however, revealed no significant differences between instruction sets. The data, in conjunction with previous findings, suggest that product-use instructions represent a viable means of conveying product hazards.”
© All rights reserved Braun et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton, Tubilleja, Kenneth and Ferrante, Rozana (1995): Signal Words: Perceived Carefulness by the Developmentally Disabled. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 440-444.
“The current standards recommend using signal words such as DANGER, WARNING, and CAUTION to connote varying degrees of hazard. Most research concerning the connoted strength of signal words has used college students as participants. One at-risk population that has not been adequately studied, however, includes people with developmental disabilities. The purpose of the present research was to determine whether people with developmental disabilities understand these signal words. Moreover, connotation comparisons would be made concerning other populations sampled from previous research. sample of 46 people with developmental disabilities rated 43 potential signal words on how careful they would be after seeing each term. In general, the ratings of the developmentally disabled were consistent with populations sampled from previous research. The words that were frequently left blank by the developmentally disabled were used less frequently in the English language and were higher in grade level. The forensic implications and relevance concerning hazard communication are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Silver et al. and/or Human Factors Society
McAlindon, Peter, Stanney, Kay and Silver, N. Clayton (1995): A Comparative Analysis of Typing Errors between the Keybowl and the QWERTY Keyboard. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 635-639.
“The Keybowl keyboard is the first known keyboard alternative to totally eliminate finger movement and drastically reduce wrist motion. With the significant reduction of finger and wrist motion comes concern over where the repetitive forces are being transferred. In typing with the Keybowl, biomechanical requirements are somewhat different than those in using a QWERTY keyboard. One way to help determine how well typists perform biomechanically is through keystroke error analysis. Typing performances were therefore analyzed via keystroke errors to determine if Keybowl "key" activation was different from QWERTY key activation. An error analysis for each character, hand, and gender was performed. This analysis has built a foundation for comparing two very different types of upper extremity motions and how they might affect a proficient QWERTY typist's performance in typing with the Keybowl.”
© All rights reserved McAlindon et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Kennedy, Robert S. and Silver, N. Clayton (1995): Temporal Factors in Visual Perception: A Differential Approach. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. p. 891.
“Traditionally, sensory, perceptual, and cognitive psychology were normative fields of study where investigators were interested in those aspects of the responses that are normal (common, shared). In the 70's a "new look" emerged where individual differences were emphasized and paradigms were developed. The predicate for the work reported here follows from the notion that people with better spatial abilities often perform better in jobs that require such skills, while static vision acuity relates to the perception of small spots, fine lines, and grids. We hypothesize that there are other, perhaps equally important abilities ON WHICH INDIVIDUALS DIFFER, and we refer to them collectively as temporal visual factors. These are visual functions that operate faster (neurally) than static acuity and support such activities as real and apparent motion perception. We propose to report on the recent development of a computerized temporal acuity test battery. Separate empirical studies at three universities will describe how the different tests are shown to be stable over repeated measures, have high (r > .707) retest reliability, are factorially rich, and are largely uncorrelated with spatial acuity and intelligence. The tests all work on a 386PC, or better, and are transportable by disk.”
© All rights reserved Kennedy and Silver and/or Human Factors Society
Braun, Curt C. and Silver, N. Clayton (1995): Interaction of Warning Label Features: Determining the Contributions of Three Warning Characteristics. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 984-988.
“Warning label features such as signal words, typefaces, and color, have largely been evaluated independently of one another. Despite the statistically significant findings resulting from virtually every experiment involving these warning features, the literature has yet to address the larger issue of how these features interact when all three are present. The present effort evaluated the interaction of three different warning features to identify the extent to which each feature contributes to the perception of product hazard. These features included: signal word, legibility, and color. A sample of 34 participants rated the level of perceived hazard associated with labels that depicted the factorial combinations of two products, three signal words (DANGER, CAUTION, NOTICE), two levels of legibility (Helvetica and Arabia), and four colors (red, orange, green, and black). The data revealed significant main effects for each factor and a significant three-way interaction. The interaction indicated that in conditions of reduced legibility, color may be the only source of hazard information. Consumer product warning design implications are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Braun and Silver and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton, Wogalter, Michael S., Brewster, Blair M., Glover, Barbara L., Murray, La Tondra A., Tillotson, Cheryl A. and Temple, Tallah L. (1995): Comprehension and Perceived Quality of Warning Pictorials. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 1057-1061.
“The present study assessed the comprehensibility and quality of warning pictorials in the presence and absence of explicit context. Context was provided by a photograph and a verbal description of an environmental scene in which the pictorial might appear. A total of 248 individuals performed a comprehension test on a randomly-assigned pictorial from each of three referent categories (Keep Out, Electrical Shock, and Do Not Dig). Following this task, 185 participants were shown five pictorials (four others plus the one they had seen) associated with each of the three referent categories and then rated and ranked them on their quality to convey the referent message effectively. Results indicated that the context manipulation enhanced comprehension for pictorials two out of three referent categories. Confidence intervals indicated that comprehension levels of all the Electrical Shock symbols would fall within the ranges specified by ISO's 67% and ANSI's 85% comprehension criteria. Three of the Do Not Dig pictorials and none of the Keep Out pictorials fell within the acceptable ISO and ANSI comprehension criteria. Statistically significant average point biserial correlations were obtained between the comprehension and quality scores for each referent category. Implications for warning pictorial test and design are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Silver et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Braun, Curt C., Greeno, Brian and Silver, N. Clayton (1994): Differences in Behavioral Compliance as a Function of Warning Color. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 379-383.
“A body of literature asserts color's influence on display preference, cognition, behavior, and performance. Although these results have clear implications for the design of consumer product warnings, color has been disproportionately underrepresented in warnings research. The present study examined the effect of color on compliance with printed warnings. Sixty-five undergraduates interacted with a pool water test kit and a two-part adhesive. The warning on each product was factorial for color (i.e., red, green, and black) and was constant for content. Participants indicated a higher likelihood of injury associated with products printed in red than green or black. Behavioral compliance was assessed by indicating if subjects donned protective gloves as directed by the warning. The data indicated that warnings printed in red resulted in a higher proportion of compliant behavior than green and black combined.”
© All rights reserved Braun et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton, Braun, Curt C. and Kennedy, Robert S. (1994): Identification of Standardized Tasks for the Assessment of Operator Workload. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. p. 982.
“As cockpits become increasingly complex, operation and control of the aircraft requires that pilots integrate information from a wide variety of sources. Thus, the pilot's workload has increased as a function of this complexity. Traditional efforts aimed at reducing operator workload via automation have produced mixed results. An alternative to this approach involves using adaptive automation in which system and subsystems are automated as a function of operator workload. The feasibility of such automation, however, is dependent upon the reliable measurement of operator workload. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine the differences in workload and performance in a cognitive task, namely channel monitoring. Nineteen undergraduate psychology students completed a complex counting task. Participants were instructed to monitor a specific number of channels and respond after counting a specific number of tones in each monitored channel. There were three monitored channels, three interstimulus intervals (0.5, 1.5, and 3.0 seconds), and number of events counted (2, 4, and 8). The participant responded to all 27 conditions. Perceived workload increased and performance decreased as the number of channels monitored increased, the interstimulus interval decreased, and the number of events counted increased. These results demonstrate that an available workload measure can provide differences in operator workload and serve as the foundation for future research. These findings and tasks can be used as a tool to assess the sensitivity of other workload measures.”
© All rights reserved Silver et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Braun, Curt C., Sansing, Lori, Kennedy, Robert S. and Silver, N. Clayton (1994): Signal Word and Color Specifications for Product Warnings: An Isoperformance Application. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 1104-1108.
“Recent work in the area of color and warnings has indicated that the level of hazard communicated by signal words varies as a function of the color in which they are printed. These findings suggest that signal word and color combinations create a continuum of perceived hazard. Although individual experiments advance the understanding of how color affects the perception of product hazard, explicit data do not always provide label designers and product manufacturers with the tools necessary to successfully apply them. To explore how color and signal words can be jointly used, the present effort applied the isoperformance technique to the problem of specifying signal word and color combinations. This technique identifies combinations of variables that produce equal (iso) levels of warning (performance). Using perceived hazard data from 30 participants, signal words and colors were systematically grouped into categories that conveyed equal levels of hazard. How the isoperformance technique might serve as a tool for label designers is described.”
© All rights reserved Braun et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton, Gammella, Dana S., Barlow, Amy S. and Wogalter, Michael S. (1993): Connoted Strength of Signal Words by Elderly and Non-Native English Speakers. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting 1993. pp. 516-519.
“A number of recent studies have examined the connoted strength of signal words used in sign and product label warnings. These words, such as DANGER, WARNING, and CAUTION, are intended to differentiate various levels of hazard (high to low, respectively). Until recently, most studies have only used college students to evaluate signal words. Other populations who are at least equal to or possess greater risk of injury have not been studied. The main purpose of the present research was to determine whether other populations of persons, namely the elderly and non-native English speakers, derive similar meanings (i.e., connoted levels of hazard) from the signal words as have been shown in previous work for college students, as well as, for a sample of grade-school children tested in Silver and Wogalter (1991). A sample of 98 elderly persons and 135 non-native English speakers rated 43 potential signal words on how careful they would be after seeing each term. The results showed that the rank ordering of the words was consistent across both groups and this order corresponded with the ratings from earlier-studied populations. Moreover, there was a significant negative linear relationship between the number of words the non-native English speakers left blank and ratings of understandability by college students in previous research. The forensic implications and practical relevance of these results for hazard communication to diverse populations are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Silver et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Kline, Paul B., Braun, Curt C., Peterson, Nancy and Silver, N. Clayton (1993): The Impact of Color on Warnings Research. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 37th Annual Meeting 1993. pp. 940-944.
“Researchers have examined a variety of attributes that influence a warning's ability to communicate important product hazards. These attributes include font type, signal words, and the use of icons. One attribute that has been noticeably absent from the warnings literature is color. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine the appropriateness of achromatic stimuli in product warning research. Thirty-three undergraduate students rated color and achromatic versions of twelve labels. These labels varied across four levels of product class and three levels of signal word. All labels were evaluated on six attributes: salience, readability, hazardousness, likelihood of injury, carefulness, and familiarity. A composite variable called "perceived hazard" was formed from the averaged ratings of hazardousness, carefulness, and likelihood of injury. Moreover, an additional variable "perceived readability" was composed of the mean ratings of readability and saliency. Results showed that color labels were perceived as more readable and hazardous than achromatic labels. Implications for warning research are discussed.”
© All rights reserved Kline et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Braun, Curt C., Silver, N. Clayton and Stock, Barry R. (1992): Likelihood of Reading Warnings: The Effect of Fonts and Font Sizes. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 926-930.
“Legibility of a warning is a major issue in the labeling of various consumer products, and over the counter and prescription drugs. The purpose of the present research was to examine certain variables that are associated with legibility, namely font type, font weight, point size, and point size contrast between the signal word and the main body of the warning. A sample of undergraduate students and elderly people rated 24 Ultra Tide detergent labels for their likelihood to read the warning, the saliency of the warning, and readability of the warning. The results indicated that participants were more likely to read the warning in Helvetica type than in Times or Goudy. Times was more likely to be read than Goudy. Bold type was more likely to be read than Roman type. There was a greater likelihood of reading the warning when the main body was in 10 point size as compared to 8 point size. A 2 point size difference between the signal word and the main body of the warning produced a greater likelihood of reading the warning over a 4 point size difference. One possibility for this result is that the 4 point difference minimizes the importance of the main body of the warning, therefore making only the signal word salient.”
© All rights reserved Braun et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton and Wogalter, Michael S. (1991): Strength and Understanding of Signal Words by Elementary and Middle School Students. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 590-594.
Leonard, David C., Ponsi, Kathryn A., Silver, N. Clayton and Wogalter, Michael S. (1989): Pest-Control Products: Reading Warnings and Purchasing Intentions. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 436-440.
“This research is part of a large study examining people's perceptions of household pest-control products. Described in this report are the variables associated with peoples' willingness to read warnings on these products and the variables associated with likelihood to purchase. Two subject samples, comprised of 70 undergraduates and 20 adults, examined 22 pest-control products and responded to a questionnaire assessing perceptions of the products, the packaging, and the warnings. Results showed that product hazardousness, warning understandability, and warning attractiveness strongly related to subjects willingness to read the warnings. Unexpectedly, readability analyses indicated subjects would more likely read warnings with more sentences/statements and written at higher grade levels. A different set of variables was related to purchasing intentions. Subjects reported greater willingness to purchase products that were more familiar and which had more attractive packaging. Regression analyses were also performed to obtain models predictive of reading warnings and purchasing intentions. The results are discussed in terms of manufacturers' concerns of sales and consumer safety. The relative independence of subjects' purchasing intentions and the variables related to reading warnings suggests that manufacturers can place appropriate and effective warnings on pest-control products without the fear of reduced buying intentions.”
© All rights reserved Leonard et al. and/or Human Factors Society
Silver, N. Clayton and Wogalter, Michael S. (1989): Broadening the Range of Signal Words. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 33rd Annual Meeting 1989. pp. 555-559.
“Most guidelines on warning design recommend using an appropriate signal word that connotes the degree of hazard involved. Usually three levels of signal words, DANGER, WARNING, and CAUTION are suggested for warnings that convey high to low degrees of hazard. The purposes of the present research were threefold. The first goal was to examine whether these terms differed in implied hazard level. The second goal was to determine whether an additional group of five words recommended in guidelines or used in previous research differed in connoted hazard level. The third goal was to explore the possibility of increasing the number and range of words that connote different levels of hazard. Subjects rated a list of 84 potential signal words on six questions assessing strength, severity of implied injury, likelihood of implied injury, attention-gettingness, carefulness, and understandability. The results indicated that DANGER connoted greater strength (arousal) than WARNING and CAUTION, but the results failed to show a difference between WARNING and CAUTION. Among other words tested, DEADLY was seen as having strongest arousal connotation, and NOTE the least. From the long list of 84 terms, a "short" list of 20 signal words was developed based on understandability, low variability, shortness of word, and frequency of use. It is suggested that an expanded list of signal words might alleviate potential problems of habituation from overuse of the currently recommended terms.”
© All rights reserved Silver and Wogalter and/or Human Factors Society
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