German doctors have given patients with locked-in syndrome a way to communicate using yes or no answers. Published in the journal PLOS Biology , the research is so remarkable that it has Black Mirror show creators wishing they’d thought of it first.
Locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is mentally aware but lacks the capability to move or communicate because of paralysis in most of the body's voluntary muscles, save for vertical eye movement and blinking. It is particularly difficult to address communication in this group, but with the help of near-infrared spectroscopy, that may change.
The patients, who all have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, are able to communicate with eye movement, though others with total locked-in syndrome lack even this capability. For them, this technique may present a way forward.
According to the BBC, brain cell activity changes oxygen levels in the blood, causing the blood to change colors. Looking inside the blood, scientists can identify the blood’s color through near-infrared spectroscopy, then asking the patient yes or no questions to interpret brain signals that follow.
While the results were not perfect, the system achieved an accuracy of approximately 75%. In practice, this means that questions may have to be asked to the patents a number of times — a small ask of patients who have been unable to previously communicate in any way.
“It’s the first sign that completely locked-in syndrome may be abolished forever, because with all of these patients, we can now ask them the most critical questions in life,” said researcher Niels Birbaumer, a neuroscientist at the University of Tübingen.
And the Black Mirror twist? Patients aren’t always going to give the answers that you hope they will. Show creator Charlie Brooker recently tweeted an anecdote about a 61-year-old patient who was asked by his 26-year-old daughter for a blessing for her upcoming wedding. The father, who was previously uncommunicative, said no nine out of 10 times.
Professor Ujwal Chaudhary, who worked as a researcher on the project, said, “It’s one thing to ask your father for a symbolic blessing; it’s another to have to do it 10 times in a row and constantly get shot down, and it’s even worse when you can’t get an explanation. “
And, while the medical breakthrough is incredible, it has limitations. They’re not sure why the father said no — but the couple got married anyway. The story is perfect for Black Mirror — potentially dark, but also surprising.
Birbaumer said, “these patients reported being ‘happy’ despite being physically locked in and incapable of expressing themselves on a day-to-day basis, suggesting that our preconceived notions about what we might think if the worst was to happen are false.”
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