A device that records automatic or involuntary movements; also, writing or text produced without conscious control.
From Greek 'autos' (self) + 'matos' (moving) + 'graphe' (writing). First used in late 1800s psychology and spiritualism contexts to describe automatic writing (supposedly from spirits or the unconscious) and mechanical recording devices.
Spiritualists in the Victorian era used 'automatographs'—people would supposedly write messages from spirits without realizing it—until scientists showed it was actually 'ideomotor effect,' where tiny unconscious muscular movements created the illusion of supernatural communication.
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