Potential uses of virtual reality to evaluate behavioral compliance with warnings Duarte, M. Emília C. IADE/UNIDCOM – Research Unit of Design and Communication. Escola Superior de Design. Av. D. Carlos I, nº 4. 1200-649 Lisboa. Portugal. E-mail: mecduarte@gmail.com Rebelo, F. S. Ergonomics Laboratory, FMH - Technical University of Lisbon. Estrada da Costa. 1499-002 Cruz Quebrada. Dafundo. Portugal. E-mail: frebelo@fmh.utl.pt ABSTRACT This paper reviews some methodologies usually adopted to investigate warnings effectiveness. The focus was workplace warnings using visual and auditory modalities. Topics related to dynamic and multimodal warnings are also discussed. The main purpose of this survey was to highlight some critical aspects of the warnings research and to understand how specific methods can be applied in a Virtual Reality-based methodology. The information is organized based on the information processing stages of the Communication-Human Information processing (C-HIP) model. Advantages and disadvantages of VR as a warnings research technique are discussed. Keywords Warnings, Effectiveness evaluation, Methodology, Virtual Reality. INTRODUCTION Evaluating warnings is an important research concern. During the last decades a body of empirical research on warning evaluation has grown and new evaluation methods have been developed. An overview of the most common evaluation approaches is provided. The purpose of this paper is to present a survey of a set of factors known to influence the effectiveness of workplace warnings and to highlight some methodological aspects related with warnings evaluation, in order to be able to understand how specific methods could be applied in a Virtual Reality-based (VR) warnings research. The paper is organized accordingly to the processing stages from the Communication-Human Information (C-HIP) model (Wogalter, 2006a). The factors that are influential on each stage are identified. VR as a warning research technique is discussed. This work was done in the scope of a larger ongoing Portuguese research project named “Using Virtual Reality to Evaluate Warnings Effectiveness”, that has the main purpose of building a VR tool applicable to warnings research. The differences at effectiveness level, between static and dynamics warnings, when displayed in work environments with distinct risk levels are also addressed in the project. We are especially interested in assessing Human behavior during high workload situations, and in particularly, in evaluating to what extent warnings are effective under an emergency situation. Evaluation of warnings effectiveness Warnings are an important safety communication because they inform people about the presence of a potential hazard and transmit information about what can be done to