“We had no idea someone who had never moved his hands for 10 years, if you asked him to write, what his brain would do,” Willett said. “It shows these fine dexterous (movements) still evoke rich patterns of brain activity that we can use.”
In the future, researchers hope the technology could be adapted to allow people who can't talk to simulate conversation through writing.
“While handwriting can approach 20 words per minute, we tend to speak around 125 words per minute, and this is another exciting direction that complements handwriting,” said Krishna Shenoy, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University.
However, more work needs to be done before the study’s results can be successfully transferred into real-world applications such as a tablet, smartphone or computer.