[mercop]

All good points. Of course I am talking about the average person taking advantage of their auto response. I have found the slashing though natural to target by default some worthless areas in the way of stopping a BG. That was part of the reason I developed Inverted Edge Tactics.

It is my belief that you will likely not be able to "aim" for specific targets if defending yourself with a knife so the grips that dictate specific angles that lend themselves to exploiting the body's inherent weaknesses are the ones build nuero pathways with.

I understand the mechanics of a shanking, the idea of the post was to discuss what would be the most likely scenario if using a knife to defend yourself, not necessarily defending against a knife attack. The first rule of defending against an edged weapon attack is to block or evade. The first rule of blocking and evading is to respond to the preparatory movement instead of waiting to see a knife that as stated you will likely not see but only feel.