Perseveration
Perseveration
Perseveration refers to any continuation or recurrence of activity without appropriate stimulus (cf. intrusions). Perseverations may be repeated motor behaviors (e.g., drawing, writing) or speech. These are viewed as a failure to inhibit a previous response pattern. Sensory perseveration is also described, e.g., palinopsia in the visual system.
A number of varieties of perseveration have been described, associated with lesions in different areas of the brain:
- "Stuck-in-set":
Inappropriate maintenance of a current category or framework; thought to reflect a deficit in executive function; associated with frontal lobe (especially frontal convexity) damage, which is associated with an inert, apathetic pattern of behavior, rather than the disinhibited pattern associated with orbitofrontal damage.
- "Recurrent":
Unintentional repetition of a previous response to a subsequent stimulus; thought to represent an abnormal postfacilitation of a memory trace; associated with posterior left (dominant) hemisphere damage; commonly seen in aphasics, Alzheimer’s disease; this overlaps with "intrusions."
- "Continuous":
Inappropriate prolongation or repetition of a current behavior without interruption; thought to represent a deficit of motor output; associated with basal ganglia damage.
References
Hudson AJ. Perseveration. Brain 1968; 91: 571-582
Sandson J, Albert ML. Varieties of perseveration. Neuropsychologia
1984; 22: 715-732
Cross References
Aphasia; Dysexecutive syndrome; Frontal lobe syndromes; Intrusion; Palinopsia
