Image Courtesy: Smithsonian Magazine
A surprising discovery made during research on social distancing has revealed that humans overwhelmingly prefer to turn counterclockwise while walking, regardless of nationality, gender, or whether they are right- or left-handed.
Researchers at Waseda University in Tokyo stumbled upon the pattern while analyzing video footage from experiments designed to study crowd movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 32 of 33 trials, participants naturally tended to move and turn in a counterclockwise direction, an unexpected finding that prompted a deeper investigation. The results were published this week in the journal Nature Communications.
Lead researcher Claudio Feliciani and his colleagues expanded the study by testing groups of varying sizes in both Spain and Japan. The counterclockwise preference remained remarkably consistent across different environments and demographics. Researchers found that factors such as handedness, footedness, eye dominance, gender, and cultural background had little impact on the tendency. The only noticeable difference was that younger participants displayed the behavior slightly more strongly.
The team concluded that the phenomenon appears to originate from individual behavior rather than interactions between pedestrians or environmental factors. Despite examining several common explanations, the researchers were unable to identify a clear cause for the directional bias.
The findings stand in contrast to observations in many animal species, where movement patterns generally show no strong directional preference. While some animals, including ants and certain birds, exhibit forms of behavioral lateralization, the researchers believe the human tendency may point to an unexplained biomechanical or neurological asymmetry.
Scientists have also considered broader influences such as Earth’s magnetic field or the Coriolis effect, but current evidence does not support either explanation.
Experts say the discovery could have practical implications for crowd management, urban planning, and emergency evacuations. Enrico Ronchi, a safety engineer at Lund University who was not involved in the research, said the findings open new avenues for studying crowd dynamics and human movement.
The study may also help explain why some real-world environments naturally encourage counterclockwise movement. Supermarkets are often designed to guide shoppers in that direction, while many racing sports, from track and field to NASCAR, traditionally run counterclockwise.
