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Cortex; a Journal Devoted To the Study... Mar 2009Perseveration in target cancellation tasks and in drawing by copy and from memory was investigated in 21 right-brain-damaged patients, seven with no evidence of left...
Perseveration in target cancellation tasks and in drawing by copy and from memory was investigated in 21 right-brain-damaged patients, seven with no evidence of left visuo-spatial neglect, and 14 with neglect. Eight such neglect patients showed perseveration in both cancellation and drawing tasks, although no correlation was found with the severity of neglect. Patients with perseveration were not disproportionately impaired in tasks assessing executive (fluency, Stroop colour-word interference, and Weigl's sorting test), and visuo-spatial short-term memory function. In the context of a two-component hypothesis, graphic perseveration (the first component) is a specific disorder that manifests in a variety of tasks, particularly those requiring serial graphic production. Unilateral spatial neglect (the second component) may trigger and facilitate the production of perseveration errors, with a contra-ipsilateral gradient of increasing severity.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Brain; Brain Diseases; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Male; Memory; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Perceptual Disorders; Psychomotor Performance; Severity of Illness Index; Space Perception; Visual Fields; Visual Perception
PubMed: 18708187
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2008.03.012 -
Journal of Abnormal Psychology Nov 2001Recent attempts to validate the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) as a measure of psychopathy in female offenders have been limited by a failure to examine...
Recent attempts to validate the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) as a measure of psychopathy in female offenders have been limited by a failure to examine laboratory correlates of the syndrome. We assessed 112 incarcerated women by using the PCL-R and examined their performance on a card perseveration task that has been used to demonstrate response perseveration in psychopathic men. Contrary to prediction, psychopathic women did not perseverate responding when the PCL-R was used either dimensionally or categorically. The authors discuss the implications of the results for the PCL-R and for female psychopathy more generally.
Topics: Adult; Antisocial Personality Disorder; Female; Humans; Severity of Illness Index
PubMed: 11727953
DOI: 10.1037//0021-843x.110.4.644 -
Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology :... Jun 2023Perseveration is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Huntington disease (HD).
Understanding the Relationship Between Perseveration, Comorbid Behavioral Symptoms, Motor Decline, Functional Decline, and Self-report Accuracy in Huntington Disease Can Help Inform Clinical Practice.
BACKGROUND
Perseveration is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Huntington disease (HD).
OBJECTIVE
To study perseveration and its relationship to comorbid behavioral symptoms, motor decline, functional decline, and subject self-report accuracy by analyzing cross-sectional data tracking individuals who have or are at risk for HD and healthy controls (HC).
METHOD
We studied 96 individuals from HD families and 35 HC who were either family controls or gene negative. We used χ 2 tests to compare patient demographic and survey outcomes data and to analyze the presence of obsessions and compulsions (OC), depression, and apathy relative to the presence of perseveration.
RESULTS
Individuals with HD and perseveration had a higher presence of OC, depression, and apathy compared with individuals with HD of the same stages without perseveration (19%, 47.6%, and 47.6% vs 15%, 40%, and 25%, respectively). In addition, individuals in HD Stages 1-3 with higher motor scores (showing a later stage of disease) displayed a significantly higher rate of perseveration than the HC ( P = 0.0476; P = 0.0499, respectively). The presence of an informant resulted in a significantly higher rate of perseveration reporting for individuals in HD Stages 1 and 2 (41.2% and 53.8% with informant vs 23.5% and 11.1% without informant, respectively).
CONCLUSION
Perseveration was seen across all motor and functional stages for the individuals with HD, without significant differences between the different stages. Additionally, informants were beneficial to obtaining accurate patient reports of perseveration. These findings should prove useful for physician evaluation and treatment considerations.
Topics: Humans; Huntington Disease; Self Report; Cross-Sectional Studies; Apathy; Behavioral Symptoms
PubMed: 36633581
DOI: 10.1097/WNN.0000000000000331 -
Neuropsychology Oct 2016Previous studies of verbal fluency have reported higher rates of perseverative responses in both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to...
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies of verbal fluency have reported higher rates of perseverative responses in both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) relative to control groups. These perseverations could arise from a number of impairments-for example, failures in working memory, inhibitory control, or word retrieval-and different clinical populations may show an increase in perseveration because of different underlying deficits. The objective of the current report is to investigate the cause of perseveration in verbal fluency in individuals with TBI and compare those results to a recent study of individuals with AD.
METHOD
In a previous study, conducted by Miozzo, Fischer-Baum, and Caccappolo-van Vliet (2013), perseveration errors produced by individuals with AD were shown to have long lags between the 1st occurrence of a word and its repetition in verbal fluency, suggesting that perseverations were caused by a failure of the working memory mechanisms that control response monitoring. In the present investigation, we applied the same analysis to the perseveration errors produced during 197 administrations of the verbal fluency task with 143 individuals with TBI.
RESULTS
The perseverations of individuals with TBI showed a lag distribution similar to that of the AD population, with the lag between the 1st occurrence of a word and its repetition systematically longer than would be expected by chance.
CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the perseverations produced during verbal fluency in individuals with TBI stem from the same working memory mechanism proposed in AD, rather than inhibitory control or word retrieval deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record
Topics: Adult; Aphasia, Broca; Brain Damage, Chronic; Brain Injuries, Traumatic; Female; Humans; Male; Memory Disorders; Memory, Short-Term; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Speech Production Measurement; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 27054439
DOI: 10.1037/neu0000286 -
Biological Psychiatry Global Open... Jan 2024The nature of cognitive flexibility deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which historically have been tested with probabilistic reversal learning tasks,...
BACKGROUND
The nature of cognitive flexibility deficits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which historically have been tested with probabilistic reversal learning tasks, remains elusive. Here, a novel deterministic reversal task and inclusion of unmedicated patients in the study sample illuminated the role of fixed versus uncertain rules/contingencies and of serotonergic medication. Additionally, our understanding of probabilistic reversal was enhanced through theoretical computational modeling of cognitive flexibility in OCD.
METHODS
We recruited 49 patients with OCD, 21 of whom were unmedicated, and 43 healthy control participants matched for age, IQ, and gender. Participants were tested on 2 tasks: a novel visuomotor deterministic reversal learning task with 3 reversals (feedback rewarding/punishing/neutral) measuring accuracy/perseveration and a 2-choice visual probabilistic reversal learning task with uncertain feedback and a single reversal measuring win-stay and lose-shift. Bayesian computational modeling provided measures of learning rate, reinforcement sensitivity, and stimulus stickiness.
RESULTS
Unmedicated patients with OCD were impaired on the deterministic reversal task under punishment only at the first and third reversals compared with both control participants and medicated patients with OCD, who had no deficit. Perseverative errors were correlated with OCD severity. On the probabilistic reversal task, unmedicated patients were only impaired at reversal, whereas medicated patients were impaired at both the learning and reversal stages. Computational modeling showed that the overall change was reduced feedback sensitivity in both OCD groups.
CONCLUSIONS
Both perseveration and increased shifting can be observed in OCD, depending on test conditions including the predictability of reinforcement. Perseveration was related to clinical severity and remediated by serotonergic medication.
PubMed: 38298803
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.06.004 -
Journal of Sleep Research Jun 2018A recent study reported that individuals recalling frequent idiopathic nightmares (NM) produced more perseveration errors on a verbal fluency task than did control...
A recent study reported that individuals recalling frequent idiopathic nightmares (NM) produced more perseveration errors on a verbal fluency task than did control participants (CTL), while not differing in overall verbal fluency. Elevated scores on perseveration errors, an index of executive dysfunction, suggest a cognitive inhibitory control deficit in NM participants. The present study sought to replicate these results using a French-speaking cohort and French language verbal fluency tasks. A phonetic verbal fluency task using three stimulus letters (P, R, V) and a semantic verbal fluency task using two stimulus categories (female and male French first names) were administered to 23 participants with frequent recall of NM (≥2 NM per week, mean age = 24.4 ± 4.0 years), and to 16 CTL participants with few recalled NM (≤ 1 NM per month, mean age = 24.5 ± 3.8 years). All participants were French-speaking since birth and self-declared to be in good mental and physical health apart from their NM. As expected, groups did not differ in overall verbal fluency, i.e. total number of correct words produced in response to stimulus letters or categories (P = 0.97). Furthermore, groups exhibited a difference in fluency perseveration errors, with the NM group having higher perseveration than the CTL group (P = 0.03, Cohen's d = 0.745). This replication suggests that frequent NM recallers have executive inhibitory dysfunction during a cognitive association task and supports a neurocognitive model which posits fronto-limbic impairment as a neural correlate of disturbed dreaming.
Topics: Adult; Cognition; Dreams; Female; Humans; Language; Male; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Semantics; Single-Blind Method; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 29171104
DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12644 -
Neuropsychology Sep 2012Right-brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect make perseveration errors in target cancellation tasks. A recent study (Ronchi, Posteraro, Fortis, Bricolo, &...
OBJECTIVE
Right-brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect make perseveration errors in target cancellation tasks. A recent study (Ronchi, Posteraro, Fortis, Bricolo, & Vallar, 2009) showed that perseveration occurred more frequently in star than in letter cancellation, possibly due to different stimulus disposition. In this study we investigated the role of the spatial organization of targets (scattered vs. arranged) of the star and letter cancellation tasks in eliciting omission and perseveration errors; the role of impairments of divided attentional resources; and the lesion correlates of perseveration.
METHOD
Thirty-three right-brain-damaged patients (27 with neglect, and six without neglect; 17 showing perseveration, 16 of them with spatial neglect) were given two versions of the star and letter cancellation tasks (with stimuli scattered or in rows), and a dual task.
RESULTS
A scattered target disposition increased omission and perseveration errors. Target type modulated differently omission and perseveration, with the former being more elicited by verbal targets, and the latter occurring more frequently in the star cancellation task, with scattered stimuli. Perseveration behavior was unrelated to deficits of divided attention, as assessed by the dual task. Lesion analysis indicated damage to the right insula as a neural correlate of perseveration.
CONCLUSIONS
A display including nonverbal (star) and scattered targets brings about more perseveration errors. Target type and organization modulate in a different fashion omission and perseveration, suggesting the involvement of independent pathological mechanisms, which, however, do not implicate deficits of divided attention. The role of insular damage in motor perseveration in spatial neglect is discussed.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Attention; Brain; Educational Status; Executive Function; Exploratory Behavior; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Perceptual Disorders; Psychomotor Performance; Stroop Test; Visual Perception
PubMed: 22775343
DOI: 10.1037/a0029216 -
American Journal on Intellectual and... Sep 2012Verbal perseveration is a frequently reported language characteristic of males with Fragile X syndrome and may be a defining feature or hallmark of the syndrome. We... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Verbal perseveration is a frequently reported language characteristic of males with Fragile X syndrome and may be a defining feature or hallmark of the syndrome. We compared the verbal perseveration of boys with Fragile X syndrome with (n = 29) and without (n = 30) autism spectrum disorder, boys with Down syndrome (n = 27), and typically developing boys (n = 25) at similar nonverbal mental ages. During a social interaction, boys with both Fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder produced significantly more topic perseveration than all other groups. In social interaction as compared to narration, boys with Fragile X syndrome (regardless of autism status) produced significantly more topic perseveration. These findings suggest that autism status, as well as language sampling context, affect perseveration in boys with Fragile X syndrome.
Topics: Adolescent; Child; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Child Language; Child, Preschool; Down Syndrome; Fragile X Syndrome; Humans; Language Disorders; Male; Psycholinguistics; Speech; Stereotyped Behavior; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 22998486
DOI: 10.1352/1944-7558-117.5.384 -
Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology :... Dec 2010There are several forms of agraphia, including: aphasic agraphia, where patients have impairments in writing the correct words or correctly spelling words; apraxic...
BACKGROUND
There are several forms of agraphia, including: aphasic agraphia, where patients have impairments in writing the correct words or correctly spelling words; apraxic agraphia, where patients are impaired in making the movements needed to write letters; and spatial agraphia, where patients might fail to write letters on one side of a word or write on one side of a page. In several of these agraphic disorders, patients can make perseverative errors, and perseverative errors can even be seen in patients who do not have aphasia or apraxic agraphia. Patients who make continuous perseverative errors repeatedly writes the same letter (fruuuit) or word, and patients with recurrent perseverations change their letters, but then incorrectly use letter or word that was previously used (fruiut). We report a patient who demonstrated a different form of graphic perseveration.
METHODS AND RESULTS
A 61-year-old man with a right parietal lobe lesion and left-sided neglect developed an inability to write. When attempting to write, he repeatedly wrote the same letter that he first wrote, and wrote these in the same spatial position as the first letter. When spelling, reading aloud, and using a keyboard to write he did not perseverate letters or words. When performing the cancellation test and drawings, he also perseverated.
CONCLUSIONS
This patient demonstrated a novel form of perseverative behavior. Although the mechanism of this spatially adherent graphemic perseveration remains to be elucidated fully we provide evidence that this patient's right parietal lesion caused a visuomotor disengagement disorder.
Topics: Agraphia; Brain; Brain Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Executive Function; Handwriting; Humans; Language; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neuropsychological Tests; Parietal Lobe; Perceptual Disorders; Psychomotor Performance; Reading; Stroke; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
PubMed: 21042207
DOI: 10.1097/WNN.0b013e3181f20cdd -
European Psychiatry : the Journal of... Feb 2001After electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), many patients experience a decrement in their mnestic capacity. We studied episodic memory in eight severely depressed patients...
After electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), many patients experience a decrement in their mnestic capacity. We studied episodic memory in eight severely depressed patients treated with a course of right-unilateral ECT. For this purpose, a testing instrument was constructed by the authors. It was made of paper cards that held four pieces of information, namely a word, a number, a figure, and the color of the card. One of the cards was presented to the patients and the respective information was asked for on the subsequent day. Patients were tested every morning during the first two weeks of the ECT course. About half of the responses were correct. Patients did best in recalling the color; they did worst in recalling the number. Seven of the patients showed verbal perseverations. This is in accordance with the literature on perseveration in patients with neurologic deficits, especially in proactive-inhibitory tasks. Perseveration may be attributed to a deficit in selective attention, producing an arousal of irrelevant cues.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cognition Disorders; Depressive Disorder; Electroconvulsive Therapy; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Severity of Illness Index; Speech Disorders; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 11246297
DOI: 10.1016/s0924-9338(00)00540-x