Motor Perseveration Predicts Ideational Perseveration on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Matthew G Hall, M.S., Scott C Wollman, M.S., Lindsey A Frazier, Psy.D., and Barbara J Schrock, Ph.D., ABPP-CN Abstract Perseveration has been described as an inappropriate continuation of a response that may occur in multiple different output modalities, thus potentially resulting in differential error types. The sample included 21 patients with motor perseveration and 30 patients without. An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine the relationship between motor perseveration and perseverative errors from the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Patients with motor perseveration showed significantly lower perseverative errors T-scores. These results appear to suggest that motor perseveration is significantly associated with higher order cognition. The two perseverative types may share similar underlying neuroanatomical mechanisms. Motor perseveration tasks are not always administered in clinical settings, but may be easily implemented and appear to predict ideational perseveration. Stimulus Normal performance Perseverative performance A. B. C. Introduction Perseveration has been described as an inappropriate continuation of a response. To date, there are no studies that have examined the relationship between recurrent, continuous, and stuck-in-set perseveration in a clinical setting, regardless of etiology or lesion localization. The current study explored the possible relationship between motor perseveration and ideational perseveration, as measured by the WCST. Results Groups did not significantly differ on demographic variables such as gender, age, and education. Groups were similar in lesion acuity and loci of lesion, and were matched on Block Design Scaled Scores. Results indicated that patients with motor perseveration displayed significantly lower perseverative error T-scores on the WCST, when compared to individuals who did not display motor perseveration t(49) = 2.3, p = .02, r = .31. Conclusion These results suggest that motor perseveration is associated with ideational perseveration, regardless of etiology or lesion localization. These results are noteworthy as perseverative errors resulting from higher order frontal areas have been associated with functional outcome in the rehabilitation setting. Motor perseveration tasks are not always administered in clinical settings, but may be easily implemented and appear to predict ideational perseveration. Methods This pilot study utilized data from participants that were drawn from a larger adult archival data source comprised of acquired brain injury patients referred for neurorehabilitation. This study excluded conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and those patients with multiple cerebral vascular accidents. A two-tailed independent samples t-test was conducted to assess for group differences.

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