Dataset Information

How simple rules determine pedestrian behavior and crowd disasters.

ABSTRACT: With the increasing size and frequency of mass events, the study of crowd disasters and the simulation of pedestrian flows have become important research areas. However, even successful modeling approaches such as those inspired by Newtonian force models are still not fully consistent with empirical observations and are sometimes hard to calibrate. Here, a cognitive science approach is proposed, which is based on behavioral heuristics. We suggest that, guided by visual information, namely the distance of obstructions in candidate lines of sight, pedestrians apply two simple cognitive procedures to adapt their walking speeds and directions. Although simpler than previous approaches, this model predicts individual trajectories and collective patterns of motion in good quantitative agreement with a large variety of empirical and experimental data. This model predicts the emergence of self-organization phenomena, such as the spontaneous formation of unidirectional lanes or stop-and-go waves. Moreover, the combination of pedestrian heuristics with body collisions generates crowd turbulence at extreme densities--a phenomenon that has been observed during recent crowd disasters. By proposing an integrated treatment of simultaneous interactions between multiple individuals, our approach overcomes limitations of current physics-inspired pair interaction models. Understanding crowd dynamics through cognitive heuristics is therefore not only crucial for a better preparation of safe mass events. It also clears the way for a more realistic modeling of collective social behaviors, in particular of human crowds and biological swarms. Furthermore, our behavioral heuristics may serve to improve the navigation of autonomous robots.

SUBMITTER: Moussaid M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3084058 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How simple rules determine pedestrian behavior and crowd disasters.

Moussaïd Mehdi M Helbing Dirk D Theraulaz Guy G

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20110418 17

With the increasing size and frequency of mass events, the study of crowd disasters and the simulation of pedestrian flows have become important research areas. However, even successful modeling approaches such as those inspired by Newtonian force models are still not fully consistent with empirical observations and are sometimes hard to calibrate. Here, a cognitive science approach is proposed, which is based on behavioral heuristics. We suggest that, guided by visual information, namely the di ...[more]

PMID: 21502518

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Project description:Interruptions are a part of our everyday lives. They are inevitable in complex societies, especially when many people move from one place to another as a part of their daily routines. The main aim of this research is to understand the effects of interruptions on individuals from a psychological and crowd dynamics perspective. Two studies were conducted to investigate this issue, with each focusing on different types of interruptions and examining their psychological (emotion, motivation, arousal) and physiological (heart rate) components. Study 1 examined interruptions in a video game setting and systematically varied goal proximity (N = 61). It was hypothesized that being interrupted in the later stages of goal pursuit would create a high aroused impatience state, while interruptions in the earlier stages would produce a low aroused boredom state. However, the results showed that the hypothesized groupwise differences were not observed. Instead, interruptions created annoyance in all conditions, both psychologically and physiologically. Study 2 investigated interruptions in pedestrian crowds (N = 301) and used a basic motivational dichotomy of high and low motivation. In the experiments, crowds (80-100 participants) were asked to imagine that they were entering a concert hall consisting of a narrow bottleneck. The low motivation group reported feeling bored during the interruption, while the high motivation group reported feeling impatient. Additionally, a motivational decrease was observed for the high motivation group due to the interruption. This drop in motivation after the interruption is also reflected in the measured density (person/m2) in front of the bottleneck. Overall, both studies showed that interruption can have significant effects on individuals, including psychological and physiological impacts. The observed motivational decrease through interruption is particularly relevant for crowd management, but further investigation is needed to understand the context-specific effects of interruptions.

Dataset Information

How simple rules determine pedestrian behavior and crowd disasters.

Publications

How simple rules determine pedestrian behavior and crowd disasters.

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