Abstract
We conducted consecutive naming tests on aphasic patients to examine how semantic and phonologic relations of words and the response stimulus interval (RSI) influence occurrence of verbal perseveration. We also examined occurrence of perseveration from factors involving relation with the brain lesion areas. The subjects were 14 (right-handed) aphasics attributable to cerebrovascular accident. We created a consecutive naming test using three word lists (semantically related words, phonologically related words, and non-related words) . RSI was set at 1s and 15s. The results indicated that the verbal perseveration occurred more significantly when the patients named semantically related words consecutively with an RSI of 1sec than with any other settings. Concerning the area of brain lesion, the test indicated that when the patients with left frontal lobe lesion named semantically related words with RSI of 15s, verbal perseveration occurred more than in patients with other lesions. These data showed that occurrences of perseveration are related to semantically related target words and the RSI. We concluded that this was caused by dysfunction of the left frontal lobe, which plays a role in selection of suitable information among competing semantic information.
