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People have an inherent preference for counterclockwise motion, study reveals

Phys · · 712 words · By University
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What to know about People have an inherent preference for counterclockwise motion, study reveals

Researchers from the University of Navarra and the University of Tokyo observed a consistent preference for counterclockwise turning among pedestrians. The study, published in Nature Communications, found that this bias persists across different cultures and genders, though it is more pronounced in children.

Propaganda risk 0%
Claims checked 10
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

People have an inherent preference for counterclockwise motion, study reveals Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor Researchers in Spain and Japan tested a broad range of pedestrians in varying group sizes to see whether there were any…

Why it matters

It turns out that the vast majority of people prefer counterclockwise turning.

Common ground

Most factors, such as culture or gender, made little difference.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Researchers from the University of Navarra and the University of Tokyo observed a consistent preference for counterclockwise turning among pedestrians. The study, published in Nature Communications, found that this bias persists across different cultures and genders, though it is more pronounced in children.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-inherent-counterclockwise-motion-reveals.ht…

analyticsAnalysis

0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 10 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 3
info Single Source 2
cancel Disputed 1
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Claim 1: “Individual locomotor bias drives counterclockwise motion in pedestrian crowds, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-73713-w”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly cite the paper title 'Individual locomotor bias drives counterclockwise motion in pedestrian crowds', the journal 'Nature Communications', the year '2026', and the DOI '10.1038/s41467-026-73713-w'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article documents notable events, research findings, scientific and technological advances, and human actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming and climate…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_climate_change
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following scientific events occurred, or are scheduled to occur in 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_science
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nature Communications is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the natural sciences, including physic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Communications
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Claim 2: “The study has been published in Nature Communications.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent web search results explicitly state that the research on counterclockwise motion in pedestrians was published in the journal Nature Communications.
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web search NEUTRAL — Research findings are available online in the journal Nature Communications. The original story "Researchers find a surprising human bias toward counterclockwise motion" is published in The Brighter S…
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/researchers-find-a-sur…
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web search NEUTRAL — Counterclockwise motion has been documented in human gatherings. The authors show across five experiments in Spain and Japan that this bias reflects individual locomotor tendencies.Individual locomoto…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73713-w?error=coo…
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web search NEUTRAL — Publication details. Individual locomotor bias drives counterclockwise motion in pedestrian crowds, Nature Communications (2026).Journal information: Nature Communications. Provided by University of T…
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-inherent-counterclockwi…
info
Claim 3: “Only age showed a noticeable but small change, in that younger people followed this pattern more strongly.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of unrelated search results regarding digital business registration in Thailand, which do not mention pedestrian turning or age patterns.
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web search NEUTRAL — จดทะเบียนดิจิทัล (DBD Biz Regist)
http://edbr.dbd.go.th/
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web search NEUTRAL — ระเบียบสำนักงานทะเบียนหุ้นส่วนบริษัทกลาง ว่าด้วยการจดทะเบียนห้างหุ้นส่วนและบริษัท ผ่านระบบจดทะเบียนนิติบุคคลทาง ...
https://ereg.dbd.go.th/ERegistMemberWeb/nonmemberpages/user_…
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web search NEUTRAL — บริการของเรา เราให้บริการครบวงจรสำหรับผู้ประกอบการ ตั้งแต่การจดทะเบียนธุรกิจไปจนถึงการขอใบอนุญาตต่างๆ
https://bizportal.go.th/Home/Index
verified
Claim 4: “The original research, including the initial experiments and analysis, was conducted by the Department of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Navarra in Spain”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While Wikipedia mentions the University of Navarra's School of Engineering (TECNUN) and a physicist named Sergio Carbajo, there is no specific evidence in the provided text linking the Department of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Navarra to the initial research on pedestrian turning behaviors.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sergio Carbajo Garcia is a Basque-Spanish-American physicist and engineer whose work bridges ultrafast and quantum optics, accelerator-driven X-ray science, and applied photonics. He holds joint facu…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Carbajo
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The School of Engineering at San Sebastián, also known as TECNUN, is the technological campus of the University of Navarra. The School of Engineering offers numerous degrees in engineering at its two …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecnun
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corpo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Paris
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 5: “in 32 out of 33 experimental trials, as people moved and turned, they noticeably preferred to turn counterclockwise”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While sources confirm a general counterclockwise bias and experiments in Spain and Japan, none of the provided evidence specifically mentions the statistic '32 out of 33 experimental trials'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 32 may refer to: 32 (number), the natural number following 31 and preceding 33 One of the years 32 BC, AD 32, 1932, 2032
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/32
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 33 may refer to: 33 (number), the natural number following 32 and preceding 34 33 BC AD 33 1933 2033
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Maxim M/32-33 is a Finnish modification of the Russian M1910 Maxim, developed by Aimo Lahti in 1932. Lahti was ordered to adapt the Maxim so that it could be fed with more modern metallic ammuniti…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_M/32-33
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “the vast majority of people prefer counterclockwise turning”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources (University of Tokyo, EurekAlert!, and other news summaries) confirm that the vast majority of people have a preference for counterclockwise turning.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... It turns out that the vast majority of people have a preference for counterclockwise turning. Most factors such as culture or gender made little ...
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00441.html
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... Most have a right-sided and counterclockwise bias, but some organisms are the opposite. Even molecules exhibit chirality, which also tends to be ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1u1zcvu/people_hav…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 10, 2026 ... Researchers are at a loss for why people across cultures and ages, regardless of their dominant hand, have a natural bias toward wandering ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/science/humans-walking-ve…
verified
Claim 7: “additional comparative experiments later carried out in Japan in collaboration with the University of Tokyo team”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of general definitions of 'comparative' adjectives and general information about the University of Tokyo, but does not confirm the specific collaboration or experiments regarding turning behaviors.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Faculty of Law (東京大学法学部) is one of the 10 constituent faculties, and Graduate Schools for Law and Politics (東京大学大学院法学政治学研究科) is one of the constituent 15 graduate schools at the University of Tokyo.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Schools_for_Law_and_P…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Prostitution in Japan has existed throughout the country's history. While the Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", looph…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Japan
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital and most populous city of Japan. The population of the city proper was over 14 million as of 2023. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “A person-to-person gap of around 2 meters (6.6 feet) was broadly found to be effective [to impede the spread of the virus]”
DISPUTED
Sources provide conflicting views: one source states 2 meters might not be enough to stem the spread, while another (MIT Technology Review citing The Lancet) states it is far more effective than one meter.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Starting in January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The two main types of tes…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_testing
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 9: “they also investigated group size, gender, handedness and age”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (The Brighter Side of News, The Debrief, and other web results) confirm that researchers investigated group size, gender, handedness, and age.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Researchers in Spain and Japan tested a broad range of pedestrians in varying group sizes to see whether there were any patterns in their turning behaviors, and what factors influenced them, if any. I…
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-people-inherent-counterclockwi…
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web search NEUTRAL — Finally, they looked at group size, gender, handedness, footedness, eye dominance, and age.Handedness, footedness, eye dominance, sex, and even temporarily covering the right eye did not produce stati…
https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/researchers-find-a-sur…
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web search NEUTRAL — For the second stage of the project, Feliciani and his team developed a series of experiments targeting age, handedness, gender, group size, and cultural influence.
https://thedebrief.org/working-against-the-clock-a-bizarre-h…
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Claim 10: “we tried to patch people's left or right eyes and the bias was still there”
SINGLE SOURCE
One source (The Brighter Side of News) mentions that 'temporarily covering the right eye did not produce statistically significant differences', which aligns with the claim, but there is no corroboration from other independent sources in the provided evidence.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.