Earthquake early warning (EEW) systems have the potential to facilitate the delivery of lifesaving information to individuals in the path of damaging shaking before it reaches them. While much attention has been devoted to measuring the technological feasibility in terms of reach, accuracy, and latency of EEW message delivery, one additional aspect that merits considerable attention is the effectiveness of alerts themselves; do they deliver actionable information that can lead to protective actions taken by message receivers? In this project, we investigated individual responses to a simulated EEW message in a laboratory environment. We employed eye-tracking technology to evaluate visual attention to specific message features; measured behavioral responses to the EEW message (i.e., the participants' ability to perform the recommended actions correctly); and collected self-reported perceptions of the messages (including participants’ intent to act in response to future EEW messages). We manipulated two variables selected to be likely to affect visual attention, behavioral responses, and message perceptions: 1) prior exposure to the relevant protective actions, and 2) the presence of informational icons about the protective actions within the message. We found that prior exposure to protective actions is the strongest predictor of behavioral response and message perceptions; however, the inclusion of informational icons had little effect on our results, suggesting a need for further research testing. The results of this study should inform recommendations for message design and public education and training, all of which are critical to the success of EEW.

地震预警（EEW）系统有可能在破坏性震动传到个人之前帮助向其传递救生信息。尽管已经在衡量EEW消息传递的范围，准确性和延迟方面投入了大量精力，但是值得关注的另一个方面是警报本身的有效性。它们是否提供可操作的信息，从而导致邮件接收者采取保护性措施？在此项目中，我们研究了在实验室环境中对模拟EEW消息的个人响应。我们采用了眼动追踪技术来评估视觉对特定消息功能的注意力；测量对EEW消息的行为响应（即参与者的 能够正确执行建议的操作）；并收集了自我报告的消息感知（包括参与者对未来EEW消息做出响应的意图）。我们操纵了两个可能会影响视觉注意力，行为反应和信息感知的变量：1）事先接触过相关的保护措施； 2）消息中有关保护措施的信息图标的存在。我们发现，事先接触防护措施是行为反应和信息感知的最强预测因子。但是，包含信息图标对我们的结果影响不大，这表明需要进行进一步的研究测试。这项研究的结果应为信息设计以及公共教育和培训提供建议，