Perseveration in brain-injured adults

Despite the acceptance of perseveration as a characteristic sign of disturbed CNS functioning, objective data relative to its nature and occurrence are noticeably lacking. Data obtained in this study, not unexpectedly, indicate that perseverative responses occur more often in brain-injured than in normal subjects. The brain-injured subject most likely to evidence perseveration appeared to be one who (1) had suffered a CVA (2) less than 6 months ago that (3) resulted in aphasia. Two types of perseveration, repetitious and continuous, were noted in the responses of the brain-injured with higher incidences of the repetitious type occurring. It was felt that the behavioral definitions used to differentiate between repetitious and continuous perseveration allowed for reliable judgments between observers.