experiences, the sense of presence or presence hallucinations, or Doppelgänger experiences. Blanke's medical activities focus on the field of cognitive neuroprosthetics, and are dedicated to the design and clinical application of VR and robotics technology as novel diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. He developed and tested several new VR-based procedures for patients with chronic pain such as complex regional pain syndrome, phantom limb pain in amputation, and spinal cord injury. Recently, he has developed new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patients with neurodegeneration such as Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. He has also an interest in complex conscious experiences and their varied personal, neuroscientific, historical and cultural aspects. He has studied out-of-body experiences and astral travel, doppelgänger experiences, the sense of presence, as well as free will, and thought insertion. Awards Cloëtta Prize by the Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation (2012) Robert Bing Prize (2006) Pfizer Prize (2005) Leenaards Prize in (2003) Selected publications References External links Website of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience Website of Mindmaze Website of Metaphysiks Living people Academic staff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Swiss neuroscientists Swiss neurologists German neuroscientists 1969 births German neurologists