Overview
- Researchers discovered the effect by chance during COVID‑era social‑distancing research and then published controlled experiments on June 10 that confirm a consistent counterclockwise turning bias in 32 of 33 trials.
- The finding held across settings in Spain, Japan and China and appeared when people walked alone as well as in groups, showing it is an individual locomotor tendency rather than only a social or cultural rule.
- The bias is modest at the individual level but amplifies into clear collective patterns when many people move together, which the team reproduced in mathematical crowd models.
- Tests ruled out simple explanations such as handedness, ocular dominance or obvious environmental cues, and researchers report the effect is stronger in children, suggesting a developmental component.
- The cause remains unknown but authors point to possible biomechanical asymmetry and have launched targeted follow-ups using individual biomechanics experiments and virtual reality to probe mechanisms and inform crowd‑management and space design.