Automatism is the practice or
theory of the spontaneous production of
words (
speech or
writing),
drawing,
painting or other
creative production, or behavior in general, without conscious self-control or self-censorship.
There are two types of automatism: mediumistic automatism, in which the speech, writing or behaviour produced is purported to be communicated from ghosts, spirits or the like, channelling through a psychic or medium, and surrealist automatism.
See also: surautomatism
Automatism is also a legal term for the state of acting involuntarily, as in
sleepwalking.
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