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The effect of fear appeals on novice drivers' hazard perception: Neuroscientific evidence
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The effect of fear appeals on novice drivers' hazard perception: Neuroscientific evidence

Huarong Wang, Wen Chen, Ming Zhu, Dan Sun, Lvqing Miao and David C. Schwebel
Transportation research. Part F, Traffic psychology and behaviour, Vol.119, 103614
04/2026
DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2026.103614

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Abstract

Novice drivers are over-represented in road traffic crashes, partly due to deficits in hazard perception. We examined the effects of fear appeals on hazard perception among novice drivers. Two within-subjects design experiments were conducted to examine (1) the impact of fear versus rational appeals to improve hazard perception among novice drivers, and (2) the impact of fear appeals on novice drivers' perception of both explicit (obvious danger in the road traffic environment) and implicit (danger was less obvious) traffic conflicts involving both overt and covert hazards. Both experiments considered reaction time to the hazards as well as using fNIRs techniques to evaluate brain activation. Three primary results emerged: (1) There were no significant differences between the effect of fear appeals versus rational appeals on novice drivers' hazard perception scores or cortex oxyhemoglobin changes at most channels; (2)Preliminary evidence suggested that when novice drivers were activated by fear appeals in explicit conflicts, they scored higher for overt hazards than for covert hazards, but there were no significant differences in hazard perception scores in implicit conflicts; and (3) When novice drivers perceived overt hazards under fear appeals in implicit conflicts, there was significantly greater negative activation in the BA10 and BA46 brain regions than under fear appeals in explicit conflicts. We conclude that fear and rational appeal strategies have similar effects on novice drivers' hazard perception skills, but through different pathways. Preliminary evidence suggested differential impacts under specific conditions. Specifically, fear appeals using explicit traffic conflicts were more effective in improving novice drivers' hazard perception compared to presentation of more subtle implicit fear-inducing traffic situations, especially in terms of perceived overt hazards. •We examined the effects of fear appeals on hazard perception among novice drivers.•Fear and rational appeals have similar effects on novice drivers' hazard perception.•Novice drivers perceived better for overt hazards than for covert hazards under explicit fear appeals.•There were greater brain activation when perceiving overt hazards under implicit fear appeals than under explicit conflicts.
 Fear appeals fNIRs Hazard perception Novice drivers

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