Facilitation of Accurate Perception by Anticipatory Sets: the Progressive Effects of Aging

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Abstract
Aging effects onthose central neural mechanisms which in behavior are manifested in the facilitating influence of anticipatory sets, were tested in a group of men aged 77 to 89 years and a mixed group aged 65 to 75 years. The experimental procedure required vocal reproduction of words presented at the individual''s threshold of intelligibility, and tested the effect of different anticipatory sets on accuracy. A group of men and women aged 20 to 40 served as controls. Observations about a decline with age of the capacity to utilize expectancy for speedier response were extended to the effect of anticipatory sets on accuracy of perception, and findings concerning a gradual diminution in flexibility of perceptual attitudes were also confirmed. The latter effect occurs at an earlier age when, by the evidence of our subjects aged 65 to 75, the deterioration in the facilitation of accurate response by single sets is slight. Anticipatory sets facilitated accurate auditory perception in all 3 age groups, and subjects at all 3 age levels were able to formulate expectancies from the cues given them. There was a general tendency for performance scores to diminish with age, but the relative effect of the test situations remained stable. Age effects unfavorable to efficient performance appeared first when the task involved the rapid shifting from one set to another, or the formulation of a new set while another expectancy was still in operation. Significant deterioration in the utilization of single sets occurred only in our subjects aged over 77 years. Inter-subject variability tended to increase with age, and so did cautiousness in making a response.

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