Editing Automatic writing (section)

==Scientific analysis and skepticism==

Scientists and skeptics consider automatic writing to be the result of the [[Ideomotor phenomenon|ideomotor effect]].<ref name="Burgess"/><ref name="Heap"/><ref name="Erickson"/><ref name="Karen"/>

According to skeptical investigator [[Joe Nickell]], "automatic writing is produced while one is in a dissociated state. It is a form of motor automatism, or unconscious muscular activity."<ref name="Nickell"/> Neurologist [[Terence Hines]] has written "automatic writing is an example of a milder form of [[Dissociation (psychology)|dissociative state]]".<ref name="Hines"/> In 1900, Swiss psychologist [[Théodore Flournoy|Theodore Flournoy]] studied the case of the French medium [[Hélène Smith|Helene Smith]], particularly her handwriting during seances.<ref name=":1" /> He concluded that the automatic writing phenomenon was an effect of autosuggestion produced by autohypnotization, leading to the emergence of a secondary self.<ref name=":1"/>

Paranormal researcher [[Ben Radford]] writes in his 2017 book ''Investigating Ghosts'' that there is no real way to know if the writing is coming from "outside their bodies," you "must take their word for it. Because the source of the information is at issue and the medium cannot be validated, we must turn to the content of the material." Various psychic mediums have claimed to channel famous dead people. For example, Susan Lander claimed that [[Betsy Ross]] contacted her to say, "I am gay and I fly the flag of pride and liberty for all of us." According to Radford, historians say that there is "no credible historical evidence that Ross&nbsp;... either made or had a hand in designing the American flag." Without some kind of validation, "anyone can claim to communicate with the spirit of anyone." Radford argues that "Automatic writing should logically hinder, not help spirit communication," given that spelling and grammar are more difficult than direct speech. <ref name="Radford 2017">{{cite book |last1=Radford |first1=Ben|author-link=Ben Radford |title=Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits |date=2017 |publisher=Rhombus Publishing Company |location=Corrales, New Mexico |isbn=9780936455167 |pages=182–185}}</ref>

===Scientific studies===

In an 1890 paper on hypnotism, [[Morton Prince]] claims, "automatic writing is not a purely unconscious reflex act, but, the product of conscious individuality," and further claims that the hand that is writing is under the control of a separate hypnotic personality during trances.<ref name="Prince1"/><ref name="Prince2"/> Physician [[Charles Arthur Mercier]], in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' (1894), criticized the spiritualist interpretation of automatic writing, concluding, "there is no need nor room for the agency of spirits, and the invocation of such agency is the sign of a mind not merely unscientific, but uninformed."<ref name="Mercier"/>

Psychology professor [[Théodore Flournoy]] investigated the claim by nineteenth-century medium [[Hélène Smith]] (Catherine Müller) that she did automatic writing to convey messages from [[Mars]] in Martian language. Flournoy concluded that her "Martian" language had a strong resemblance to Ms. Smith's native language of French and that her automatic writing was "romances of the subliminal imagination, derived largely from forgotten sources (for example, books read as a child)." He invented the term [[cryptomnesia]] to describe this phenomenon.<ref name="Randi1"/>

In 1927, psychiatrist [[Harold Dearden]] wrote that automatic writing is a psychological method of "tapping" the unconscious mind and that there is nothing mysterious about it.<ref name="Deardon"/>

In 1986, A.B. Joseph investigated two female patients who were found to exhibit [[ictal]] [[hypergraphia]].<ref name="Joseph"/>

Automatic writing behavior was discovered by Dilek Evyapan and Emre Kumral in three patients with [[Cerebral hemisphere|right hemispheric]] damage.<ref name="Dilek"/>

A 2012 study of ten [[psychograph]]ers using [[single photon emission computed tomography]] showed differences in brain activity and writing complexity during alleged trance states vs. normal state writing.<ref name="PECT"/>