echopraxia

plural echopraxias

1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe involuntary repetition or imitation of the observed movements of another.

   1964, Digest of Neurology and Psychiatry, Volumes 32-33, Institute of Living, page 260, Echolalia and echopraxia have been recognized as symptoms of seriously disturbed behavior in adults for over a century.

   2 more examples

   For example, a tic is an automatic form of echopraxia, involving to some slight degree the emotions and the volition and having been originally acquired by suggestion and imitation.

   1906, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Volume 33, Williams & Wilkins, page 547

   Several patients, after repeated experience of echopraxia and pantomime, had the delusion that they could communicate with others without using words—merely transmitting ideas by a bodily movement.

   1966, The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 112, Royal Medico-Psychological Association, page 241

   Synonyms: echokinesis