Psychiatrist Question:

Describes an inappropriate repetition of some behaviour or thought or speech. Echolalia is an example of perseverative speech. Talking exclusively on one subject might be described as perseveration on a theme. Perseveration of thought indicates an inability to switch ideas, so that in an interview a patient may continue to give the same responses to later questions as he did to earlier ones. Perseveration is sometimes a feature of frontal lobe lesions.