Varieties of perseveration

Neuropsychologia. 1984;22(6):715-32. doi: 10.1016/0028-3932(84)90098-8.

Abstract

We propose a new taxonomy for perseveration consisting of three categories which are distinctive at the levels of clinical features, process, and neuroanatomy. Stuck-in-set perseveration, the inappropriate maintenance of a current category or framework, involves an underlying process deficit in executive functioning and is related neuroanatomically to frontal lobe damage. Recurrent perseveration, the unintentional repetition of a previous response to a subsequent stimulus, involves an abnormal post-facilitation of memory traces and is related neuroanatomically to posterior left hemisphere damage. Continuous perseveration is the inappropriate prolongation or repetition of a behavior without interruption. It involves a deficit in motor output and is most common in patients with damage to the basal ganglia.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aphasia / physiopathology
  • Attention / physiology
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / physiopathology*
  • Cerebral Infarction / physiopathology
  • Dementia / physiopathology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology
  • Frontal Lobe / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Parkinson Disease / physiopathology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology
  • Stereotyped Behavior / physiology*
  • Verbal Behavior / physiology