Go your own way: ‘Significant’ new research reveals surprising fact about how humans walk

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Left to your own devices? Turns out you’ll probably go left.

Whether you’re going for a stroll around the neighborhood while on the phone or killing time before your train arrives, odds are you’re unconsciously veering the same way as just about everyone else.

A new study says humans instinctively drift left, or counterclockwise, when we walk — even if no one else is around.

Researchers from the University of Navarra observed the surprising leftward lean across hundreds of people in Spain and Japan, finding the instinct held up regardless of age, crowd size or even whether someone was left- or right-handed.

“Our findings are highly consistent,” the researchers recently wrote in the journal, Nature Communications.

“Regardless of crowd size, boundary effects or laterality traits such as handedness, footedness and eye dominance, counterclockwise motion systematically emerges.”

In other words, your feet may have a mind of their own.

To reach their conclusion, researchers watched hundreds of volunteers walk around open fields, circular spaces and other areas while cameras and drones tracked where they went.

They also studied preschoolers on the playground, watched elementary school kids during recess, and asked college students which direction they thought people naturally walk.

Time and time again, people naturally drifted to the left.

Even more striking, the same pattern appeared when over 200 people walked alone, suggesting it isn’t something picked up from others but something humans naturally do.

“Our results indicate that this symmetry-breaking phenomenon is fundamentally rooted in individual locomotor tendencies,” the researchers wrote.

The pattern showed up in Japan as well, despite cultural differences in how pedestrians typically navigate around one another, and it even held true among participants who naturally preferred turning right.

Young children displayed an even stronger counterclockwise tendency than adults, hinting that the behavior develops early in life rather than being learned over time.

Ironically, when researchers asked volunteers which direction they expected other people to walk, most guessed clockwise.

The reason we tend to favor the left is still unknown. Researchers suspect subtle brain or biological factors may be at play — a trait echoed across the animal kingdom and not unique to humans.

“Temnothorax ants display a marked tendency to turn left while exploring and flying budgerigars exhibit lateral preferences when choosing equivalent apertures during route choice,” the researchers wrote.

Beyond satisfying curiosity, the findings could have practical implications for architects and city planners.

Designing stadiums, airports, museums and shopping centers around people’s natural tendency to circulate counterclockwise could make navigating crowded spaces feel more intuitive and comfortable, the researchers suggested.

“Overall, the implications of our findings are significant,” they wrote.

“By demonstrating that individual biases – rather than collective effects – drive the observed CCW motion in pedestrian roaming, our study deepens our understanding of pedestrian dynamics and provides a new lens for studying crowd behaviour.”

As previously reported by The Post, only about 10% of people worldwide are left-handed — a club that includes Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reeves and Leonardo da Vinci.

It’s a trait that has long fascinated scientists and, for centuries, carried an unfair stigma. For much of history, left-handedness was viewed as unlucky or even sinister. 

In fact, the Latin word “sinister” literally means “left,” and lefties were once associated with everything from witchcraft to bad luck. 

Well into the 20th century, many schoolchildren were even forced to write with their right hands instead.

More recently, scientists have continued to study what makes left-handed people different.

 Last year, a large review published in “Psychological Bulletin” found that people with language-related developmental disorders, including autism, schizophrenia and dyslexia, are more likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous than the general population.

Unlike that research, however, the aforementioned University of Navarra study found people’s tendency to walk counterclockwise had nothing to do with whether they were left- or right-handed. 

Instead, the leftward drift showed up in nearly every group researchers studied, suggesting it’s simply part of how humans are wired to move.