Keynote lecture 4: Cognetics in neuroscience and rehabilitation

Abstract

Dr. Olaf Blanke is founding director of the Center for Neuroprosthetics and Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Cognitive Neuroprosthetics at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He also directs the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at EPFL and is Professor of Neurology at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Geneva. Blanke's human neuroscience research is dedicated to the understanding of how the brain represents our body and the neuroscientific study of consciousness using human neuroimaging techniques. In clinical neuroscience he pursues invasive neurosurgical investigations as well as neuroprosthetics investigations in neurological, orthopaedic, and psychiatric patients. He pioneered cognitive neuroprosthetics by using engineering techniques such as robotics, haptics, virtual reality and most became interested in developing cognetics: robotics to study mind, cognition, and consciousness.