Automatic behavior

Automatic behavior, from the Greek automatos or self-acting, is the spontaneous production of often purposeless verbal or motor behavior without conscious self-control or self-censorship.This condition can be observed in a variety of contexts, including schizophrenia, psychogenic fugue, epilepsy (in complex partial seizures and Jacksonian seizures), narcolepsy or in response to a traumatic event. According to the book 'Brainstorm: Detective Stories From the World of Neurology' by Suzanne O'Sullivan, a side effect of focal seizures is uncontrollable movements, also known as an automatism.^[1] O'Sullivan observed many automatisms in her patients such as purposeless swearing, spitting, uncontrollable finger clicking, fumbling movements and more.^[1] According to O'Sullivan, these symptoms are “an automatic release phenomenon that occurs, because brain inhibition has been lost.”^[1] In those cases, the patients having an epilepsy aren't in control of their body.

Automatic behavior can also be exhibited whilst in the REM state—subjects can hold conversations, sit up and even open their eyes. Those acts are considered sub-conscious as most of the time the events cannot be recalled by the subject. It is most common when the subject has had under 10 hours sleep within a 36-hour period.

Other examples of automatic behavior include well learned actions such that the behavior becomes automatic in the sense that it does not require conscious monitoring. It is defined as performing a seemingly purposeful task with no clear memory of having performed the activity.^[2]

See also

• Automatism (law)
• Automatism (medicine)
• Automatic writing
• Facilitated communication
• Homicidal somnambulism

References

Further reading

• Shiffrin, Richard M.; Dumais, Susan T. (1981). "The Development of Automatism". In Anderson, John Robert (ed.). Cognitive Skills and Their Acquisition. Psychology Press. pp. 111–40. ISBN 978-0-89859-093-7.
• Solomons, Leon M.; Stein, Gertrude (1896). "Normal Motor Automatism". Psychological Review. 3 (5): 492–512. doi:10.1037/h0066163.
• Schenck, C. H.; Mahowald, M. W. (1995). "A polysomnographically documented case of adult somnambulism with long-distance automobile driving and frequent nocturnal violence: Parasomnia with continuing danger as a noninsane automatism?". Sleep. 18 (9): 765–72. doi:10.1093/sleep/18.9.765. PMID 8638069.
• Gunn, John; Fenton, George (1971). "Epilepsy, Automatism, and Crime". The Lancet. 297 (7710): 1173–6. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(71)91676-X. PMID 4103755.
• Kaido, Takanobu; Otsuki, Taisuke; Nakama, Hideyuki; Kaneko, Yuu; Kubota, Yuichi; Sugai, Kenji; Saito, Osamu (2006). "Complex behavioral automatism arising from insular cortex". Epilepsy & Behavior. 8 (1): 315–9. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2005.10.006. PMID 16356775. S2CID 24712774.
• Schopp, Robert F. (1991). Automatism, Insanity, and the Psychology of Criminal Responsibility: A Philosophical Inquiry. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-40150-0.