Synonyms
Definition
Contextually inappropriate and unintentional repetition of a response or behavioral unit.
Introduction
In an ever-changing world, humans are faced with two fundamental demands: to persist in the face of distractions and to adjust course in light of new information. These two challenges – stable pursuit of goals and flexible switching of plans – impose antagonistic constraints on cognitive control processes. Someone who is unable or unwilling to ignore incoming information risks becoming so distracted that they fail to achieve their goals, whereas someone who is unable or unwilling to take in new information risks becoming so inflexible that they perseverate on plans that cannot take them where they wish to go. The pitfalls of distraction highlight the reasons why someone should narrow attention and the “good” that can come if they persevere on a chosen course, whereas the drawbacks of rigidity...
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Acknowledgments
Funded by: RFP-15-04 from the Imagination Institute, funded by the John Templeton Foundation (DLZ). Special thanks to Hart Blanton, Ph.D., for his helpful feedback on the original draft of this chapter.
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Zabelina, D.L. (2020). Perseveration. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1097
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1097
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