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automatism
noun
- the quality or condition of being automatic
- automatic action
- Philos. the theory that the human or animal body is a machine governed by physical laws and that consciousness does not control but only accompanies its actions
- Physiol.
- action independent of outside stimulus, as sleepwalking
- action not controlled by the will, as the heartbeat
- the power of such action
- Psychol. an automatic or unconscious action, as a tic
- free expression of the unconscious mind by releasing it from the control of the conscious: a surrealist concept
Related Forms:
- automatist noun
See automatism in American Heritage Dictionary 4
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