PERSEVERATION .2. A STUDY OF PERSEVERATION IN CLOSED-HEAD INJURY

This study examines the nature and extent of perseveration in 15 indiv iduals with closed-head injury (CHI) by (a) identifying and describing the types of perseveration that occurred on verbal and non-verbal tas ks, (b) examining the possible underlying neuropsychological mechanism s of perseverative behaviour and (c) exploring neuroanatomical correla tes of perseveration. Performance of the 15 CHI patients was compared with 15 neurologically normal subjects matched for sex, age, handednes s and educational level. The CHI subjects produced significantly more perseverations than did normals, and 'recurrent' perseveration was the most frequently occurring type. A test of verbal learning elicited th e greatest number of recurrent perseverations. Overall test performanc e of the CHI group suggested that memory dysfunction and impaired atte ntion were most likely responsible for perseverative errors. CT scan a nalyses showed that the three most perseverative CHI subjects evidence d left temporal lobe damage.