Purpose This study aims to explore the neural mechanisms by which three types of safety signs (directive, prohibitive and warning signs) affect workers' attentional vigilance using an event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment, as well as the moderating effect of gender. Design/methodology/approach A behavioral experiment combined with ERP recording was conducted with 34 civil and assistant civil engineers. During the task, both behavioral responses and ERP components (N1, P2, N2 and P3) were measured. Findings The behavioral data showed that construction safety signs significantly enhanced attentional vigilance. The ERPs data revealed that directive signs elicited the largest N1 and P3 amplitudes. Prohibitive signs showed the shortest N1 latencies, suggesting rapid perceptual capture, while warning signs triggered the fastest P2 and N2 latencies. In addition, gender was found to moderate these neural responses: females exhibited shorter N1 latencies and larger P2 amplitudes, suggesting faster sensory detection and greater attentional resource allocation; males showed larger N2 amplitudes and shorter N2 latencies, indicating stronger cognitive control and faster conflict resolution. These findings suggest that different categories of construction safety signs engage distinct stages of cognitive processing. Originality/value The findings contribute to the knowledge of how construction safety signs and individual characteristics interact to shape workers' attentional vigilance processing from a neural perspective. The findings also offer actionable guidance for optimizing safety sign design and attention vigilance training strategies for gender-sensitive interventions.
Liao et al. (2026) studied this question.