Automatism - Definition and Overview

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, channeling through a psychic or medium; and surrealist automatism.

See also

• Surautomatism
• Surrealist techniques
• Automatic writing
• Automatism and the computer

In law, automatism is the state of acting involuntarily, as in sleepwalking.

External link

• Sleepwalking — Insanity or Automatism (http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v3n1/ridgway.html)