Research Guides: Psychology 312: Visual Conspicuity

Key Databases in Psychology

PsycINFO
Find psychology research from peer-reviewed journals, books, and dissertations. INCLUDES content from PsycARTICLES and PsycBOOKS.
PsycARTICLES
Full-text articles from scholarly journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Google Scholar Searches across numerous publishers and institutional sources for reports, dissertations and theses, and scholarly publications. Using this link will indicate which Google Scholar results are available in full-text through UNK databases or other free/open-access sources.

Transportation Research

Try searching these databases on "(conspicuity OR visibility) AND (emergency OR police)"

TRID Database
More than 1 million records of transportation research worldwide. See this example on police car lighting and markings.

Resources on Emergency Vehicle Conspicuity

Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity Study by Federal Emergency Management Agency
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 1492943886
Publication Date: 2009
***Consider reviewing the references of this FEMA study***
Effects of Warning Lamp Color and Intensity on Driver Vision by Univ. of Michigan Transportation Research Institute
Call Number: ONLINE
Publication Date: 2008

Suggested Search Terms for PsycINFO

One of the key tools available in PsycINFO is the thesaurus. Access it by clicking on "APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms" from the main menu.

These relevant terms, among others, are listed in thesaurus:

brightness perception
distance perception
illumination
pictorial stimuli
signal detection (perception)
visual discrimination
visual perception
visual thresholds
warnings

accident prevention
highway safety
risk factors
safety devices

Using the Thesaurus in PsycINFO

View a 5-minute YouTube video about using PsycINFO's thesaurus to get better search results.

Tutorials

Need some help putting together searches or with other aspects of Psychology research? Check out our other Psychology tutorials or our Research Tips and Tricks tutorial.