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It's been years since I looked into this stuff. I remember a story about someone with locked-in syndrome using eye-blinks to communicate letter-by-letter, or with yes/no answers. I remember they purportedly wrote a book.

Was that also discredited? Is there any standing evidence of communication by the locked-in?

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the existing state of the art is called the "p300 speller" and i believe it's been around for decades.

the user has a screen in front of them where the alphabet is cycled through at about 0.5 ch/s. scalp electrodes detect a signal associated with novelty or surprise allowing the user to spell out communications, very slowly.

edit: the cycling is in random order, thus exploiting the p300 surprise signal when the right character is highlighted. there's also some manipulation of spatial location to enhance the evocation of the signal.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. That wasn't discredited. They were able to blink, and using a second person reciting the alphabet he dictated his book

The science behind not, but the movie was discredited. It was a whitewash by his ex-wife over his girlfriend. The director fell for it. excellent movie though, even if you cannot trust anything the wife said.

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