Humans Instinctively Turn Counterclockwise When Changing Direction, New Study Finds

A Nature Communications study across Spain and Japan found that people—whether alone, in crowds, or in schools—tend to turn counterclockwise when changing direction, suggesting a biologically rooted symmetry-breaking rather than a social habit. The bias persisted across cultures and was even stronger in nursery children, with a minority who favored clockwise or showed no bias. While intriguing, researchers caution it is not a universal law and plan follow-up work with virtual reality and more complex scenarios (e.g., emergencies) to uncover origins and applications in crowded spaces.