I got this information from an Instagram reel but ig refreshed and I lost the link before I could save it, so I googled the phenomenon and got an article that talks about it instead. The reel said that it happens in a lot of small things we don’t think about like bumper cars, ice skating, most motorsports, mosh pits, etc.
The counterclockwise favoring has even been found in some animals too!
This explains NASCAR.
It’s clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern.
My assumption for this would be that the majority of humans are right-side dominant. So they tend to lead with their right foot and their right leg is probably stronger meaning they tend to take marginally larger steps on the right leading to a counterclockwise gait
Similarly to the OP, I was told in Boy Scouts that if you’re lost in the woods you need to stay where you are because if you do try to walk out you’ll likely just go in circles and be harder to find
The article didn’t mention this, but the reel mentioned a study that left handed people had approximately the same rate of counterclockwise dominance as right handed people
Oh interesting, I wonder if the cause is something else then? I do know a lot of left handed people end up learning how to do some physical activities right handed because it’s easier but I doubt that would be enough to make their right leg stronger
someone further down linked a paper, and I think I found the answer?
‘For example, the reason for this tendency toward directional walking is diversely attributable to (1) an inapt spiraling mechanism in the nervous system that is used in the absence of vision (Guldberg, 1897; Schaeffer, 1928), (2) biomechanicsand sensorial asymmetries, particularly hand and foot laterality (Day & Goins, 1999; Scharine & McBeath, 2002), (3) otolith system asymmetry from the fetal position (Previc & Saucedo, 1992), (4) hemispheric asymmetry of the dopaminergic system (Mohr, Landis, Bracha, Fathi, & Brugger, 2003; Mohr, Brugger, Bracha, Landis, & Viaud-Delmon, 2004; Mohr & Lievesley, 2007), and (5) sensorial signal interference, in which acoustic signals, such as unpredictable noises, and postural signals can lead to greater directional deviance (Millar, 1999).’
so you are partially right. also sorry for the way that pasted, I have no idea why. I’ll add a screenshot.
Really? I learned that people tend to walk toward whichever their dominant side is.
I wonder if the earth were flat would we walk straight?
Personally I think it’s the product of lizard person mind control trying to trick us into making crop circles so we conclude that the real threat are aliens from outer space. Well joke’s on you, lizards! I know you’re down there, and I’m gonna minecraft my way right down and mess up all your vile plans!
… oh, um. If you’re serious, I doubt it. The earth can be made locally flat, we do that all the time for buildings and the like.
Yeah, they interviewed someone who talked about this on NPR the other day. Neat little tidbit.
And your random British-ism of the week… its not “counterclockwise”, it’s “anticlockwise”. Just saying.
Go even more British and use windershins instead!
