Synonyms
Repetition; Stuck-in-set
Definition
Perseveration is best described as the repetitive or recurrent use of a behavioral response that is no longer contextually appropriate.
Historical Background
Introduced in 1895 by Neisser, (see Sandson and Albert 1984) perseverative behavior was first described as a reflection of a presumed, albeit undetermined, common deficit underlying such disorders as psychosis and aphasia. Given the variety of behaviors encompassed by perseveration, classification systems emerged almost immediately. In 1905, Leipmann (see Sandson and Albert 1984) proposed three types of perseverative behavior: tonic, clonic, and intentional. Tonic perseveration occurred when an individual was seemingly “frozen” in the middle of an action, unable to release or complete the intended act such as being unable to release after having initiated a hand shake. Clonicperseverations described an inability to disengage from a specific activity, e.g., continuing to draw circles...
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References and Readings
Goldberg, E. (1986). Varieties of perseveration: A comparison of two taxonomies. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 8, 710–726.
Goldberg, E., & Bilder, R. (1987). The frontal lobes and hierarchical organization of cognitive control. In E. Perecman (Ed.), The frontal lobes revised (pp. 159–187). New York: IRBN Press.
Lamar, M., Podell, K., Carew, T. G., Cloud, B. S., Kennedy, C., Goldberg, E., et al. (1997). Perseverative behavior in Alzheimer’s disease and subcortical ischaemic vascular dementia. Neuropsychology, 11, 523–534.
Luria, A. R. (1980). Higher cortical functions in man. New York: Basic Books.
Sandson, J., & Albert, M. L. (1984). Varieties of perseveration. Neuropsychologia, 22, 715–732.
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Lamar, M., Libon, D.J. (2018). Perseveration. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1619
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1619
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