title: In fencing, what gives left-handers the edge? Views from the present and the distant past.
abstract: Recent studies show that in the sport of fencing left-handers have an advantage over right-handers. This was recognised by fencing masters as early as the sixteenth century. They also agreed that the advantage was due to left-handers' numbers-that being a minority gave them more opportunities to compete against right-handers than right-handers had against them. Fencing masters today have reached the same conclusion, as have laterality researchers, who see the advantage as an example of what is now called a "frequency-dependent" effect. However, some researchers have also suggested other possibilities that relate the advantage to natural differences in ability. This article presents a sampling of views of fencing masters from the past, along with a summary and analysis of explanations, old and new.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. HARRISL@MSU.edu
authors.forename: Lauren Julius
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D001878:Books, Illustrated / Q000266:history; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011173:Portraits as Topic; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013177:Sports / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends*