Perseverative thought

What it means

The repetitive production of the same response to different commands.

A description of an individual who displayed perseveration following a hemispheric stroke is the following. The individual displayed the three primary forms of perseveration (stuck-in-set, continuous, and recurrent; for definitions), and these forms occurred on various tasks and modalities. He often pointed to the same (incorrect) items on an auditory comprehension test, whereas on writing tasks he repeated letters and words. In drawing, elements of one drawing would be carried over to other drawings. Mental states which are slow to change are perseverative, while those which are demanding or intrusive could be described as stereotyped.

Rare diseases that can present with this4

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Perseveration · Perseverative behavior · Perseverative behaviour