ELUCIDATION OF THE BEHAVIORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMANS ENCOUNTERING FIRES IN UNDERGROUND SPACES

Abstract

 This study aims to explain the behavioral characteristics of people encountering a fire in an underground shopping mall using a VR system that enables them to control their avatars with physical movements. In Experiment 1, the distance to the exit light was changed so that the visibility of the exit light in the VR space smoke would be the same as that in the real space. The participants adjusted the density of the smoke so that the exit light could be seen. In Experiment 2, based on the results of Experiment 1, the behavior of the research participants was measured at the underground mall where the fire occurred in the VR space. The results indicated that most of the participants evacuated from the nearest exit, however, some of them evacuated from the farther exit. This may be due to individual differences in the way the participants used the evacuation exit guide lights and in the formation of the cognitive map that is the basis of the Survey Map, which is used when people encounter unexpected situations in their spatial behavior.