Is Perseveration a Functional Unit Participating in all Behavior Processes?

Perseveration and Fluency as Measures of Introversion-Extraversion in Abnormal Subjects1

“…On the other hand, it may be argued that this is also true for the other three factors where new simple habits are bemg acquired and executed In that case, the common factor for P4 remains the form of the test (a) old activity (b) new activity (c) both alternating except for variable 10, where there is only (a) old activity {b) new activity Should the latter be true, then P4 would be a statistical artifact only This interpretation, then, confirmed the cognitive factor of rigidity, showed that disposition-rigidity split up into smaller factors, and found a fourth factor of alternation or speed Factor scores for the two factors of fluency and the four factors of perseveration were estimated Analyses of variance on the six groups of the population showed that only two factors of perseveration (P2 and P4) gave an F-ratio significant at the 5-per-cent level of confidence, whereas the two remaining factors of perseveration and the two factors of fluency gave insignificant F-ratios The 5-per-cent level of confidence was not found sufficiently high because the differences were neither in the expected direction, nor in the same direction for the two factors, so that they could not be interpreted CONCLUSIONS This investigation was planned to test four hypotheses in terms of which the conclusions may be summarized 1 The first hypothesis, that perseveration is a unitary factor of personality, has been disproved The matrix of intercorrelations could be accounted for by at least three factors of perseveration and a factor of alternation or speed 2 The second hypothesis, that oral verbal fluency is a unitary factor of personality has also been disproved Earlier findings by Carroll (3) and Gewirtz (10) were confirmed, that there are two factors of fluency, according to whether there is more or less constriction to definite responses 3 The third hypothesis, that perseveration is a measure of lntroversion-extraversion, also remains unsupported by the data The factors of perseveration do not differentiate between hysterics and dysthymics, the neurotic extraverts and introverts respectively These findings are all the more significant as they confirm former findmgs (Pinard,22,Notcutt,20,and Jasper,16) 4 With regard to the fourth hypothesis, the negative result is equally definite Neither of the two factors of oral fluency differentiates between hysterics and dysthymics…”

“…"Cognitive processes both begin and cease more gradually than their (apparent) causes " Perseveration he regarded as a measure of individual differences of this "lag," and he thought that perseveration lies at the basis of all the typologies Since 1927 a host of tests purporting to measure the underlying function have been devised, and many studies followed, concerned both with the finding of the general factor of perseveration and of the relationship between perseveration and mtroversion-extraversion Cattell (4, 6), Eysenck (7,8), Jasper (16), Oliver and Ferguson (21), Pmard (22), Shevach (27), Stejrfienson (29), and Walker, Staines, and Kenna (31, 32) contributed some of the most important investigations on perseveration dunng the last twenty years Sensory, motor, and ldeational tests have been employed, factors of perseveration have been identified with varying success, relationships between perseveration and mtroversion-extraversion, and/or neuroticism have been both found and denied by different authors But the evidence did not seem convincing because of inherent weaknesses in most of the studies Either too few subjects were tested, or unrepresentative samples of the population, mostly university undergraduates, were chosen Too few tests were selected, or tests of too varied a nature, in order to warrant the drawing of conclusions A word should be added about the use of tests of fluency From the begfinning, they were included in the batteries of tests of perseveration The assumption was probably made that perseveration and fluency are the opposite poles of one continuum persons who persevere very much will obviously be less fluent, and vice versa Hargreaves (12) has shown that tests of fluency define a separate factor, but for historical reasons some tests of oral verbal fluency were included m the battery used here, in order to find evidence regarding the actual relationship between these two factors Oral tests were chosen on the assumption that if fluency was a measure of temperamental traits, thai oral tests would be more suitable measures than written ones…”

P-Tests and the Concept of Mental Inertia*

“…The persistence of an activity has been proved to be a function of its degree of completion, although this relation has not yet been demonstrated in /7-tests themselves. Finally, it is probable that temporal contiguity, through inertia, plays some part in causing interference, there being definite evidence of this in Schwarz's results (cited in 13).…”

“…Jasper (13) made an even more comprehensive investigation than that of Lankes, and found no evidence of a general factor. Another of Spearman's students, Hargreaves (9), found no evidence of a general factor in six motor perseveration tests.…”

Palinacousis

“…The term perseveration was first coined by Neisser in 1895. When Jasper (1931) helped to define perseveration he wrote that the cause of this phenomenon is "the tendency of a set of neurons, once excited, to persist in the state of excitement autonomously, showing resistance to any change in this state." When Jasper (1931) helped to define perseveration he wrote that the cause of this phenomenon is "the tendency of a set of neurons, once excited, to persist in the state of excitement autonomously, showing resistance to any change in this state."…”