Humans have a natural tendency to walk anticlockwise: study
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Researchers have found that humans tend to turn left and walk in an anticlockwise direction when moving through open spaces, although the reason behind the behaviour remains unclear.
The finding came from a study led by researchers at the University of Navarra in Spain and the University of Tokyo in Japan, with results published in Nature Communications.
The discovery was made after researchers analysing crowd movement during the Covid-19 pandemic noticed that people sharing a space overwhelmingly moved in an anticlockwise direction. The observation led to a series of experiments involving individuals and small groups walking around enclosed spaces.
The researchers found a consistent tendency for people to drift anticlockwise. The pattern was observed in both Spain and Japan, suggesting it was not driven by local cultural habits.
The effect was seen in both men and women and remained even after accounting for whether participants were right-handed, right-footed, or right-eye dominant. The only notable difference was that children showed a stronger bias than adults.
Dr Iñaki Echeverría Huarte of the University of Navarra said that individuals appear to carry a slight personal tendency to turn to one side, which collectively results in a counterclockwise movement pattern when many people share a space.
Researchers are still unsure what causes the bias.
They have explored several possible explanations, including biomechanics and sensory processing, and conducted additional experiments using virtual reality and altered walking conditions. However, the underlying mechanism remains unresolved.
"We don't know why it happens," said Dr Claudio Feliciani of the University of Tokyo, adding that understanding the phenomenon could provide insights into how humans perceive and interact with their surroundings.
The researchers said the findings could help improve crowd management and evacuation models and assist in the design of public spaces such as museums, supermarkets, and train stations.
Scientists noted that similar left-turn preferences have also been observed in other species, including rock ants.