This is good, practical research, which should give useful results quickly.

The main way it differs from what I've been doing with the side to side tap test is that I measure the rate at which keys are pressed, whereas they measure other features, such as key down time. Also, they take their measurements while the person is doing normal work on the computer, whereas I require the person to take a test.

To see the power of digitography [1], if you take levodopa, do the tap test every 10 minutes starting from 30 minutes before your first dose of the day and for a further 3 hours. If you graph the results, you will be able to see how the effect of a dose changes with time.

http://www.parkinsonsmeasurement.org...eToSideTap.htm

The weakness of my approach is that it requires the engagement of the PwP. A better approach is to measure things that happen automatically, such as heart beat.

Reference

[1] Mov Disord. 2000 Jan;15(1):36-47.
"Quantitative digitography (QDG): a sensitive measure of digital motor control in idiopathic Parkinson's disease."
Bronte-Stewart HM1, Ding L, Alexander C, Zhou Y, Moore GP
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10634240

John