Echopraxia (also known as echokinesis) is the involuntary repetition or imitation of another person's actions. Similar to echolalia, the involuntary repetition of sounds and language, it is one of the echophenomena ("automatic imitative actions without explicit awareness"). It has long been recognized as a core feature of

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

, and is considered a complex tic, but it also occurs in

autism spectrum The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

disorders,

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

and

catatonia Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...

aphasia Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in ...

, and disorders involving the startle reflex such as latah. Echopraxia has also been observed in individuals with

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

and autoimmune disorders; the causes of and the link between echopraxia and these disorders is undetermined. The

etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

of the term is from Ancient Greek: " ἠχώ (ēkhō) from ἠχή (ēkhē "sound") and " πρᾶξις (praksis, "action, activity, practice)".

Characteristics

Echopraxia is the involuntary mirroring of an observed action. Imitated actions can range from simple motor tasks such as picking up a phone to violent actions such as hitting another person. Imitative learning and emulation of physical and verbal actions are critical to early development (up to the age of two or three), but when these behaviors become reactions rather than a means for learning, they are considered echophenomena (copying behaviors).

Causes

Echopraxia is a typical symptom of

but causes are not well elucidated. Frontal lobe animation

One theoretical cause subject to ongoing debate surrounds the role of the mirror neuron system (MNS), a group of neurons in the

inferior frontal gyrus The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), (gyrus frontalis inferior), is the lowest positioned gyrus of the frontal gyri, of the frontal lobe, and is part of the prefrontal cortex. Its superior border is the inferior frontal sulcus (which divides it f ...

(F5 region) of the brain that may influence imitative behaviors, but no widely accepted neural or computational models have been put forward to describe how mirror neuron activity supports cognitive functions such as imitation.

Diagnosis

There is no formal test for diagnosing echopraxia. It is easier to distinguish in individuals over the age of five, because younger children frequently imitate others' actions. Imitation can be divided into two types: imitative learning and automatic imitation. Imitative learning occurs when a person consciously mimics an observed action in order to learn the mechanism behind that action and perform it themselves. Babies begin copying movements soon after birth; this behavior begins to diminish around the age of three. Before that, it is not possible to diagnose echopraxia, because it is difficult to differentiate between imitative learning and automatic imitation. If the imitative behavior continues beyond infanthood, it may be considered echopraxia. Echopraxia may be more easily distinguished in older individuals, because their behaviors in relation to prior behaviors can be differentiated. They report feeling an uncontrollable urge to perform an action after seeing it being performed. Automatic behavior is occasionally present in healthy adults (for example, when a person observes someone yawning, he or she may do the same); these behaviors are not considered echopraxia.

References

{{Reflist Tourette syndrome Schizophrenia