Automatism

Automatism may refer to:

• Automatic behavior, spontaneous verbal or motor behavior; an act performed unconsciously. Defendants have been found not guilty due to an automatism defense (e.g., homicide while sleepwalking).
• Automatism (law), a defense to liability. See also Automatism (case law).
• Automatism (toxicology), when an individual repeatedly takes a medication because the individual forgets previous doses, potentially leading to a drug overdose.
• Automatic writing, the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer.
• Surrealist automatism, an art technique.
• Automatism (medicine), repetitive unconscious gestures such as lip smacking, chewing, or swallowing in certain types of epilepsy.