MIT: By revealing loss of motor skills, typing patterns may help to identify early onset of Parkinson’s. Analyzing people’s keystrokes as they type on a computer keyboard can
reveal a great deal of information about the state of their motor
function, according to a new study from MIT. In a paper appearing in Scientific Reports, the researchers
found that their algorithm for analyzing keystrokes could distinguish
between typing done in the middle of the night, when sleep deprivation
impairs motor skills, and typing performed when fully rested.
The study, which grew out of the Madrid-MIT M+Vision Consortium, is
based on the premise that “there might be hidden information in the way
that we type,” says Ian Butterworth, one of the authors and an M+Vision
fellow. “At the moment, pretty much all of the other information in
typing is thrown out. We just pay attention to what keys are being
pressed, not when or for how long.”
While this study focused on the effects of fatigue, it also
represents a first step toward using keystroke patterns to diagnose
conditions that impair motor function, such as Parkinson’s disease, much
earlier than is now possible, the researchers say.
Preliminary results from a study of about two dozen Parkinson’s
patients suggest that the researchers’ algorithm for analyzing
keystrokes can also distinguish people who have the disease from those
who don’t. The team is now planning a larger study of Parkinson’s
patients.
M+Vision fellows Luca Giancardo, Alvaro Sanchez-Ferro, and Carlos
Sanchez Mendoza are also authors of the paper, along with Jacob Hooker,
an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School.