ideomotor response

Body answers unknowingly

An ideomotor response is an unconscious physical movement triggered by thought or mental imagery rather than deliberate intention.

The concept explains phenomena like Ouija board planchettes moving under participants' fingers, dowsing rods dipping, or pendulums swinging—movements the person makes without awareness.

The psychologist demonstrated that ideomotor responses accounted for the "spirit communication."

Related

table tipping · mental imagery · suggestion · pendulum · placebo effect · Ouija board · hypnosis · priming · reflex arc · biofeedback · proprioception · psychomotor · cognitive bias · microexpressions · intuition · unconscious · séance · automatic writing

Categories
Opposites
volition/intentionality

ideomotor responsevoluntary movement

Self-initiated bodily action

executive action

Family

ideals, idealism, idealist, idealize, idealized, ideation, motor, motors, motored

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