Perseveration

Perseveration is a condition studied in psychology, psychiatry and speech-language pathology in which a person repeats a particular response, such as a word, a phrase or a gesture, even though the stimulus that first prompted it has stopped or is no longer present. It is typically caused by a brain injury or another organic brain disorder that disrupts the normal ability to stop one behavior and move on to the next. A person with perseveration cannot appropriately shift between ideas as the social context around them changes, so they keep repeating a word or gesture well after it has stopped being socially relevant or appropriate. This distinguishes perseveration from stereotypy, which involves highly repetitive but idiosyncratic behaviors rather than a failure to transition away from a prior response. More broadly, perseveration reflects a breakdown in the brain's ability to inhibit an automatic response or to shift smoothly to a different behavior, and it often includes difficulty with what clinicians call set shifting or task switching. Clinicians distinguish it from ordinary determination: persistent behavior that is still directed toward an identifiable goal is called perseverance, while the same kind of repetition once it is no longer directed toward any goal is called perseveration.