Federolf Peter
Name: Univ.-Prof. Dr.Peter Federolf
E-mail: Peter.Federolf@uibk.ac.at
phone number: +43 512 507 45862
Office location: HG-114
Tutorial hours: please make an appointment by email.
Office Address: Fürstenweg 185, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0266-6813
Research area: Neurophysiology of exercise
Born and high school education in Germany, degree in physics and Dr. Sc. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ). Research positions at ETHZ and Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), Davos (2000-2005). Postdoc positions at the University of Salzburg, Austria and at the University of Calgary, Canada (2005-2007). Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Calgary (2007-2011). Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin (1 month in 2007), and BioMotion Lab, Stanford, USA (1.5 months in 2011). Senior Researcher at the Norwegian School for Sport Sciences (NIH), Oslo, Norway (2011-2013). January to December 2014 Full Professor for Biomechanics at Department of Neuroscience in the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway and Professor II (Adjunct Professor) at NIH. Since February 2015 Full Professor for Neurophysiology at the Institute for Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. Since 2017 member of the Curricular Commission and since April 2020 acting Head of the Institute.
Federolf is a Fellow of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) and currently serves on their Scientific Board. He serves on the Executive Board of the Austrian Society of Sport Scientists (“Österreichische Sportwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft”, ÖSG).
My research focuses on human movement and on the sensorimotor control of human movement. Research questions that interest me are, for example, how can movements objectively be compared between individuals? How are segment movements coordinated? How is movement controlled; and how can qualitative differences in movement control be objectively be quantified?
Teaching at the Institute for Sports Science in Innsbruck (ongoing):
- PS Empirische Methoden (Bac. 5 ECTS)
- VO Aktuelle Forschung in der Neurophysiologie (MA, 4 ECTS)
- VU Multivariate Statistik (MA, 7.5 ECTS)
- VU Datenanalyse, Datenaufbereitung (MA, 5 ECTS)
- SE Problemanalyse und Forschung in der Neurophysiologie (MA, 5 ECTS)
- SE Analyse und Interpretation eigener Forschungsergebnisse (Ph.D. 5 ECTS)
Highlighted publications:
Neuromechanics – Fundamentals
Federolf P. (2016) A novel approach to study human posture control: "principal movements" obtained from a principal component analysis of kinematic marker data. Journal of Biomechanics, 49(3), 364-370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2015.12.030
Motion analysis in sport
Gløersen Ø., Myklebust H., Hallén J., Federolf P. (2018) Technique analysis in elite athletes using principal component analysis. Journal of Sport Science. 36, 2, 229-237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2017.1298826 (open access)
Federolf P., Reid R., Gilgien M., Haugen P., Smith G. (2013) The application of principal component analysis to quantify technique in sports. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 24, 491–499. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2012.01455.x
Postural control
Promsri A., Haid T., Federolf P., (2018) How does lower limb dominance influence postural control movements during single leg stance? Human Movement Science, 58C, 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2018.02.003
Haid T., Doix A.-C., Nigg B., Federolf P. (2018) Age effects in postural control analyzed via a principal component analysis of kinematic data and interpreted in relation to predictions of the optimal feedback control theory. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 10. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00022 (open access)
Wachholz F., Tiribello F., Promsri A., Federolf P. (2020) Should the Minimal Intervention Principle Be Considered When Investigating Dual-Tasking Effects on Postural Control? Brain Sciences, 10(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10010001 (open access)
Clinical research
Federolf P., Boyer K., Andriacchi T. (2013). Application of principal component analysis in clinical gait research: identification of systematic differences between healthy and medial knee-osteoarthritic gait. Journal of Biomechanics 46, 13, 2173-2178. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2013.06.032
Longo A., Meulenbroek R., Haid T, Federolf P. (2018) Postural reconfiguration and cycle-to-cycle variability in patients with work-related musculoskeletal disorders compared to healthy controls and in relation to pain emerging during a repetitive movement task. Clinical Biomechanics 54:103-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2018.03.004
Rethwilm R., Böhm H., Dussa C., Federolf P. (2019) Excessive lateral trunk lean in patients with cerebral palsy: is it a primary motor function deficit or part of a compensation mechanism? Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 7:345. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00345 (open access)
Software Papers
Haid T., Zago M., Promsri A., Doix A.-C., Federolf P. (2019) PManalyzer: a Software Facilitating the Study of Sensorimotor Control of Whole-Body Movements. Frontiers in Neuroinformatics 13: 24. https://doi.org/10.3389/fninf.2019.00024 (open access)
Gløersen Ø., Federolf P. (2016). Predicting missing marker trajectories in human motion data using marker intercorrelations. Plos One, 11 (3): e0152616. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152616 (open access)