Symbolic representation of two abstract concepts used in road signs, type of message and prohibition, was investigated. The use of two coding variables, colour and shape, was found to be unnecessary in most cases—the shape of the sign alone proved sufficient to convey these concepts. In the case of the concept of prohibition, the two signs used were found to differ in the degree of prohibitivcness which they conveyed. The concrete version, which included an interdictory stroke through concrete symbols, elicited the most explicitly prohibitive interpretations.
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Sheila Jones (1978) studied this question.
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