Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Echopraxia
/ˌɛkoʊˈpræksiə/noun
The involuntary copying of another person's movements.
The Greek roots
ἠχώ
ēkhṓ
echo, sound
πρᾶξις
prâxis
action, doing
Literally: “echo-action”
The story of the word
The motor twin of echolalia, seen in catatonia, Tourette's and some frontal lobe damage. It sits at the far end of a normal human tendency: everyone mirrors posture and yawns in company, and echopraxia is that reflex with the brake removed. The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine, described in 1878, were the first cluster of cases to reach a medical journal.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
echolaliapracticepragmaticpraxis
In a sentence
The patient raised his arm whenever the examiner did, without being asked.
Echopraxia and echolalia often appear together.