Study Reveals Humans Favor Anticlockwise Walking, Mystery Remains
WHO:
The Guardian - Dr. Iñaki Echeverría Huarte at the University of Navarra in Spain, Dr. Claudio Feliciani at the University of Tokyo, Prof. Gareth Irwin, head of sport and exercise biomechanics at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
WHAT:
404 Media - The study suggests that the counterclockwise bias may represent a deeper biological principle of symmetry breaking.
404 Media - The researchers analyzed the movements of hundreds of participants, including adults, teenagers, and children, in various settings.
404 Media - The nursery school children showed an even stronger bias toward counterclockwise turns, indicating a potential biological root rather than a learned behavior.
The Guardian - Research indicates that humans have a natural tendency to walk in an anticlockwise direction.
The Guardian - Experiments showed that crowds overwhelmingly walked in an anticlockwise direction during the pandemic.
The Guardian - The tendency to walk anticlockwise was observed in both male and female walkers, with a more pronounced bias in children.
WHERE:
The Guardian - Experiments conducted in various locations including museums, supermarkets, and empty rooms.
The Guardian - Research findings confirmed in Japan by Dr. Claudio Feliciani.
WHEN:
The Guardian - Details of the research published in Nature Communications.
WHY:
404 Media - The researchers believe that understanding the origins of this bias could lead to insights on how humans process locomotor information.
The Guardian - The exact reason for the anticlockwise walking bias remains unclear, but it may relate to biomechanics and individual asymmetries.
The Guardian - Understanding this bias could improve crowd and evacuation simulations and influence the design of public spaces.
HOW:
404 Media - Follow-up studies using virtual reality are being planned to further investigate the bias.
The Guardian - Researchers conducted a series of experiments with individual pedestrians and small crowds in enclosed spaces.
The Guardian - Further experiments included virtual reality scenarios and simulations where participants pretended one leg was broken.
(UPDATED June 11, 2026 08:29 UTC)
A new study suggests that the counterclockwise bias observed in human movement may point to a deeper biological principle of symmetry breaking. Researchers analyzed the movements of hundreds of participants, including children, teenagers, and adults, and found that nursery school children displayed an even stronger inclination toward counterclockwise turns, hinting at a biological root rather than a learned behavior. To explore this phenomenon further, follow-up studies using virtual reality are being planned.
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(UPDATED June 11, 2026 06:30 UTC)
Research published in Nature Communications reveals that humans have a natural tendency to walk in an anticlockwise direction, a phenomenon observed in various settings like museums and supermarkets. This tendency was confirmed by researchers including Dr. Iñaki Echeverría Huarte from the University of Navarra and Dr. Claudio Feliciani from the University of Tokyo, who found that both male and female walkers, especially children, showed a pronounced bias during experiments conducted before and during the pandemic. While the exact reason for this anticlockwise bias remains unclear, it may relate to biomechanics and individual asymmetries, and understanding it could enhance crowd simulations and the design of public spaces.