Effect of encouragement on performance of young and old subjects on a task involving lipreading

Two tests of lipreading ability were constructed, one using numbers and the other of sentences including visual cues. The tests were given to two groups of men, one older group aged 40 yr. and over (n = 110) and a younger group of less than 40 yr. (n = 70). Requests to guess produced a higher mean score for the older subjects on the lipreading tests containing the greater amount of information. It is suggested that differences in the effect of encouragement on performance between young and old may be related to both age and cultural factors.