Laterality in Sports

Theories and Applications

Florian Loffing, Norbert Hagemann, Bernd Strauss, Clare MacMahon, Florian Loffing, Norbert Hagemann, Bernd Strauss, Clare MacMahon

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780128016916
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Applied Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Laterality in Sports: Theories and Applications summarizes recent research on the neurophysiological foundations of handedness, and how left or right lateralization (affecting primary hand use, foot use, and eye use) affects motor control, performance outcome, skill acquisition, and achievement of sports expertise—both for one-on-one sports and team sports. As laterality research has matured, greater focus has been given to applications in human endeavours and, in particular, sport. The book examines performance within individual sports, and discusses the coaching ramifications of coaching to a specific lateralization preference.

• Describes the neurophysiological foundations of handedness
• Discusses the origins and development of laterality in humans
• Summarizes the impact of laterality on motor control and sports performance
• Encompasses research on both individual and team sports
• Includes research on skill acquisition, coaching, and development of expertise
• Covers research on laterality in preferred hand, foot, and eye use in sports

Chapter 1

Laterality in Sports

More Than Two Sides of the Same Coin

Florian Loffing, and Norbert Hagemann University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

Bernd Strauss University of Münster, Münster, Germany

Clare MacMahon Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Abstract

Sports are full of lateralized behaviors. This is obvious in athletes' use of their hands, feet, eyes, or turning direction when performing specific tasks. Laterality is relevant for a variety of sport aspects such as coaching, skill acquisition, performance, athlete development, understanding of motor control and perceptual-cognitive processes, rehabilitation, or injury prevention. Here, following a reflection on the diversity of laterality in sports, we give a review of the multifaceted contributions on this topic by distinguished experts in their respective fields. Overall, this book offers a unique overview of laterality in sports, its underlying competing theories, and how they may be tested in laboratory or field settings. It provides scientists and practitioners with recommendations regarding practice and application.

Keywords

Asymmetry; Earedness; Eyedness; Footedness; Handedness; Lateral preference; Laterality; Sidedness; Symmetry

So, in the muscular exercises of tennis, racket, and fives, a man with an inert left hand would not score well in the game. Unless Esmeralda or La Sylphide could pirouette on the left tiptoe as well as on the right, she would be found wanting. Unless those really hard-working men who imperil their lives, day after day, in performing feats of rope dancing, rope swinging, trapèze performances, aerial leaping, globe climbing, and the like—unless such men could use the left arm and leg as rapidly and as firmly as the right, their lives would not be worth many months’ purchase in the estimation of an insurance office actuary. And so the juggler, who tosses up his balls, cups, plates, and knives, does just as much work with the left hand as with the right. We therefore know that, whatever Nature did or did not intend, training will, to some extent, bring about equi-handedness and equal action in the two feet or legs.

Dickens, 1875, p. 137.

Daily life is full of lateralized behavior. We choose between our left and right hands to use a key in a door, or grasp a cup of coffee, which direction to turn to see who is standing behind us, which eye to use when looking through the peep hole in a door, and which foot to use when kicking a stone while walking through the park. Lateralized behavior is well-researched, particularly in domains such as biology and psychology (e.g., McManus, 2002; Rogers, Vallortigara, & Andrew, 2013).

Also, the discussion of laterality in sports, with particular emphasis on left-handedness, has attracted sport practitioners and scientists for centuries (e.g., Dickens, 1875; Harris, 2010; Lundie, 1896). For example, in an essay on “left-handed people,” Dickens (1875) reflected on the significance of bilateral competence in a variety of sporting tasks involving the hands or feet, suggesting that unilateral competence will unlikely be sufficient for attaining sporting excellence. Lundie (1896) focused on batting in cricket and highlighted the problems a left-handed batsman may impose on players of the opposing team. Even centuries before, fencing masters discussed the role of handedness and suggested a possible fighting advantage of relatively rare left-handed fencers (Harris, 2010; see also Harris, in this book). Throughout the chapters in this book, these and other fascinating aspects relating to laterality in sports will be addressed in more detail.

Sports are almost free of any restrictions specifying use of the left or right (Eastwood, 1972). Indeed, there are only a few exceptions, in sports like polo, where the rules dictate that the stick be held in the right hand, or in field or indoor hockey, where rules and the shape of a stick indicate how to hold a stick, or in athletics, where runners always move counterclockwise, as dictated by the running track. Apart from these or other rare occasions, athletes may vary the hand they use to play tennis, fence, throw and bat in baseball or cricket, hit the ball in golf, and shoot in ice hockey. Similarly, in boxing, wrestling, judo, or other combat sports, fighters differ in their preferred combat stance. In sports such as soccer, rugby, American football, or Australian rules football, players may prefer their left or right foot for kicking a ball. Some players may even be almost equally proficient in using both feet and one might ask if that may confer an advantage during match play and thus enables players to make more money with their sport (Bryson, Frick, & Simmons, 2013). Further variation in laterality is seen, for example, in gymnasts or figure skaters who turn left or right when performing a pirouette, in swimmers who turn left or right when performing a flip turn at the end of a lane, or in archers or biathletes who aim at targets using their left or right eyes.

While the above examples focus on choice of limb or lateralized performance in particular sports or in specific tasks within sports, symmetry is also important. In particular, sports that use both sides in cyclical movements, such as swimming, cycling, or running depend on symmetrical movement and strength. Injury is also a consideration, for both types of sports, but in particular for lateralized sports. Specifically, targeted training of both sides of the body may help counteract potentially harmful asymmetries in athletes’ musculoskeletal systems which, for example, may evolve or become intensified from predominant unilateral control of movements in asymmetric sports (e.g., tennis, baseball).

Despite the obvious occurrence of lateralized behavior in sports, it has not been extensively studied and has only recently become a focus. Recent foci of exploration include effects of bilateral practice on motor skill acquisition, performance advantage of left-oriented athletes in interactive sports (e.g., fencing, boxing), or laterality effects on motor control in sports tasks. With this increase in focus and output in research on laterality in sports, we think the time is right to bring forward the underlying theories and to derive potential applications, to unite previously isolated studies.

This edition covers a wide range of topics and perspectives, theories, and applications not only from sports sciences, but also from evolutionary biology and psychology, neuroscience and cognitive psychology. All contributing authors from around the globe are distinguished and leading international experts in their respective fields.

The Structure of the Book

This edition includes 15 chapters, with the following 14 chapters being divided up into three sections. The first section gathers together the basic knowledge from various disciplines that is necessary for an understanding of laterality phenomena in sports. The second section focuses on those motor control and motor learning processes that are important for lateralized behavior. When trying to explain laterality phenomena in sports, it is essential to understand how unilateral and bilateral movements are controlled along with the underlying learning mechanisms. The final section then discusses performance-related aspects in concrete sports situations.

Section A: Laterality—an Important and Often Disregarded Topic

In Chapter 2: Origins, Development and Persistence of Laterality in Humans, Charlotte Faurie, Natalie Uomini, and Michel Raymond elaborate on the complex interplay between the different factors that have an impact on the development and persistence of laterality in humans. The stable proportion of left- to right-handers since prehistoric times may result from mechanisms related to adaptation and natural selection. For example, the fighting hypothesis posits that negative frequency-dependent selection mechanisms could have provided the relatively rarer left-handers with a fitness advantage that may have helped them to overcome the potential costs associated with left-handedness. The authors discuss the fighting hypothesis as one possible explanation for the persistence of left-handedness from ancient to modern times.

Taking a sports context, negative frequency-dependent selection mechanisms may be illustrated nicely through the example of fencing. In Chapter 3: In Fencing, Are Left-Handers Trouble for Right-Handers? What Fencing Masters Said in the Past and What Scientists Say Today, Lauren Julius Harris gives a comprehensive overview of the relevance of handedness in fencing from both the scientist’s theoretical and the fencing master’s practical viewpoints. To this end, he adopts a historical perspective to also highlight the influence of cultural factors. By including well-researched quotes by former fencing masters, Harris illustrates how the discussion of the relevance of laterality in sports needs to be viewed as part of the classical nature versus nurture debate.

The majority of studies on asymmetry in human behavior use different tests or measures to differentiate various types of laterality, with handedness being the most prominent form. However, researchers interested in including laterality measures in their work may find it difficult to decide which of the many tests they should use. Till Utesch, Stijn Valentijn Mentzel, Bernd Strauss, and Dirk Büsch summarize different methods of assessing an individual’s lateral preferences in Chapter 4: Measurement of Laterality and Its Relevance for Sports. They also describe how models based on item response theory may be used to test the construct validity of well-established laterality measures such as Oldfield’s (1971) Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. The authors conclude by giving clear recommendations on the implementation of appropriate laterality measures in a sports context.

The interplay between the influences of nature or nurture is particularly important from the perspective of talent identification and development. The question is how much talent in sports is determined by endogenous or exogenous factors. This discussion is taken up in Chapter 5: Laterality And Its Role In Talent Identification And Athlete Development by Jörg Schorer, Judith Tirp, Christina Steingröver, and Joseph Baker, who clarify it with illustrations taken from the topic of laterality. The authors show very clearly that the success of left-handers in sports is not just due to endogenous factors, and they call for a stronger and more frequent emphasis on left-handed actions in both training and competitions.

Lateralized behavior is necessary in a variety of sport situations such as throwing a ball in baseball or cricket or hitting a forehand in tennis. The loads acting upon the limb that is predominantly carrying out such motor actions are heavier than those acting upon the nondominant limb. Consequently, asymmetries in muscular as well as skeletal structure may well evolve. In Chapter 6: Perspectives From Sports Medicine, Todd S. Ellenbecker adopts a sports medicine perspective and gives a comprehensive overview of the loads that may operate particularly on upper but also on lower extremities in sports such as tennis, which requires unilateral dominance. He discusses potential consequences for injury prevention, rehabilitation, or performance enhancement while highlighting recommendations for practitioners.

Section B: Motor Control and Learning

This section starts by emphasizing the close interplay between the motor system and cognition as proposed in the theories of embodied cognition. An interesting question in this context is how the different preferences for one side of the body have an impact on cognitive tasks. In Chapter 7: What Can We Learn About Cognition From Studying Handedness? Insights From Cognitive Neuroscience, Jacqueline A. de Nooijer and Roel M. Willems deliver comprehensive insights into this highly topical field of research and illustrate how handedness can influence basic cognitive functions such as memory, perception, and learning.

Any analysis of motor control processes requires an understanding of the two hemispheres of the brain. Building on an evolutionary approach, Robert L. Sainburg has developed an influential theory of motor control. His dynamic dominance theory assumes that handedness emerges through the interplay of different control mechanisms in the two hemispheres. The dominant hemisphere specializes in predictive control processes, whereas the nondominant hemisphere is responsible for impedance control processes. In Chapter 8: Laterality of Basic Motor Control Mechanisms: Different Roles of the Right and...