Verbal Regulation in the Control of Motor Impersistence: A Proposed Rehabilitation Procedure

Two right-handed patients with relatively circumscribed lesions in the right anterior hemisphere had left hemiparesis, attentional deficits, problems in planning, sustaining, and directing behavior, and a prominent motor impersistence. Both learned to use “self-talk” to control, at least partially, the motor impersistence. The intact left frontal lobe may be dominant for verbal control of behavior. This technique may be an effective rehabilitative procedure in certain frontal lobe patients. Because these investigations demonstrated that patients with motor impersistence can perform and maintain the movement, it is suggested that motor impersistence is not an apraxia but a frontal-motor control disorder, an impairment of regulation of activity.