1. Actions or behaviors performed without conscious thought or deliberate control; mechanical or habitual responses.
Usage: Plural form of automatism; Common in psychology and neurology
2. In art and literature, the technique of creating without conscious planning or control, allowing the hand or mind to move freely.
Usage: Associated with Surrealism and automatic writing; Art and literary context
3. In neurology and psychiatry, involuntary movements or behaviors that occur during altered states of consciousness, such as seizures or dissociative episodes.
Usage: Medical and clinical context

Examples

• Typing on a familiar keyboard involves many automatisms that require no conscious attention.
• The artist used automatisms to create spontaneous, unplanned brushstrokes on the canvas.
• During the seizure, the patient exhibited automatisms such as lip smacking and repetitive hand movements.
• Driving home from work often feels automatic because the route has become a series of learned automatisms.
• Surrealist writers employed automatisms to bypass rational thought and access the unconscious mind.
• The neurologist documented the patient's automatisms as part of the diagnostic evaluation.