Comments on: Warning: Zeignarnik Effect Ahead

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:45:25 +0000

I only have anecdotal evidence, but I work in a building with a 2 story LED sign that overlooks the Massachusetts Turnpike. The first day it was turned on a traffic jam formed from the point where it is first visible, right up to where you can’t see it anymore. Since then traffic has flowed as regularly as it did before.

Granted, as part of the agreement with the city, no text or overt advertisements are every displayed. And the content is inspiring images with very slow, subtle transitions.

By: dance

dance — Thu, 21 May 2009 05:26:54 +0000

Multi-part riddles? Was someone smoking crack?

Anecdotally from OR, PA, CA, VA, VT, NH, across the country 3 times, and up and down Northeast to Mid-Atlantic innumerable times: those state DOT electronic signs ABSOLUTELY back up and slow down traffic, sometimes just to say “Happy Holidays! No traffic problems ahead!”

By: Kirk Voelcker

Kirk Voelcker — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:51:43 +0000

“As opposed to a static billboard, whose message one would instantly absorb and then discard (as with one’s memory of traffic signs they’ve passed), some sort of narrative-in-progress might leave the driver/viewer hungry for a kind of resolution, “wanting more,” and thus dwelling more on the subject than they might have.”

I imagine the narrative-in-progress character of Burma Shave serial billboards might explain their successful inclusion in the history of the American automobile experience.

By: Yokota Fritz

Yokota Fritz — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:36:01 +0000

Anecdotally in the SF Bay Area, traffic always seems to back up when a message appears on the the traffic “Sig Alert” electronic signs over our freeways, e.g. this letter about Bike To Work Day signs in the Mr Roadshow column in the San Jose Mercury News.