A new technology described in the paper published online on July
26 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, might allow
people who have almost completely lost the ability to move their
arms or legs to communicate freely, by using their eyes to write
in cursive. The eye-writing technology tricks the neuromuscular
machinery into doing something that is usually impossible: to
voluntarily produce smooth eye movements in arbitrary
directions. "Contrary to the current belief, we show that one
can gain complete, voluntary control over smooth pursuit eye
movements," says Jean Lorenceau of Université Pierre et Marie
Curie-Paris. "The discovery also provides a tool to use smooth
pursuit eye movements as a pencil to draw, write, or generate a
signature." The advance could be of great benefit for people
deprived of limb movements, such as those with Lou Gehrig's
disease (also known as ALS), the researchers say. It might also
help to improve eye movement control in people with certain
conditions such as dyslexia or