Automatic teller machines and the older population

Subjects aged 50 years or older who had never used an automatic teller machine (ATM) were trained to use an ATM manufactured by NCR. There were four groups of 20 subjects. In all groups the training ended with a brief demonstration. Group 1 received the demonstration alone. Group 2 received a flash-card based training task which taught the meaning of the ATM keys. Group 3 received a simulator-based task which taught the idea of pressing buttons sequentially in order to complete a task unrelated to ATMs. Group 4 received all conditions. Results indicated that the demonstration alone was unsuccessful but that there were significant gains from both of the active training tasks. Results from a questionnaire suggested that, for the better performers, the training task also increased motivation to use an ATM. The implications of the results for a practical training task are discussed.