People Naturally Walk in Circles

Aug. 20, 2009 -- If you're lost in the woods and you feel like you're walking in circles, you probably are.

Without landmarks to guide us, people really do go around and around, found a new study.

The finding emphasizes the importance of being prepared if you're going to set off into the wilderness or even into a maze of city streets.

"Just walking in a straight line seems like such a simple and natural thing to do, but if you think about it, it's quite complicated thing going on in the brain," said Jan Souman, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany.

dsc.discovery.com...

Found this interesting. I knew I always walked in circles. This just reinforces the need to have topographical maps, or other imaging to help you navigate through the wilderness. Or, at least, shows why you should follow watershed drainage to ensure that you find your way out of the woods (eventually you will cross a road).

Enjoy!

Well, when you think about how miraculous it is that the human body even stands upright or walks in the first place, I think it is not a far stretch at all to believe that walking blindly would lead to going in circles.

I can say for certain that without using distinct markers, walking through a wooded area and then back tracking yourself is not always the easiest thing to do, even when you know exactly where you are. I have tried it and always miss my mark by at least a few feet. Dang trees just all look the same after an hour.

I actually found this to be a very interesting subject. I always felt like I was getting nowhere, and now I know it isn't all my fault!

Joking aside, this is another confirmation that we are just as dependent and connected to the planet we live on as any other creature.

And the article did mention that time-honored mistake that moss only grows on the north side of trees. I myself have seen more than a few cases of moss and vegetation growing on or near the south, west, and east sides of trees. I wonder why this still gets passed around as fact??

Interesting article and scientific phenomena. star for you

reply to post by Aggie Man


I know that your thread isn't talking about this precisely, but I wanted to chime in with my observation that whenever I'm talking on my cell phone, I walk in circles, clockwise. When my daughter and I talk to each other on the phone and we both walk in circles during the entire conversation.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

I know that your thread isn't talking about this precisely, but I wanted to chime in with my observation that whenever I'm talking on my cell phone, I walk in circles, clockwise. When my daughter and I talk to each other on the phone and we both walk in circles during the entire conversation.

YES!!! I do that too. I never thought about it before, but I do. I wonder if I only do it during conversations where I am lost. I'll have to pay more attention to that

Originally posted by Aggie Man

Originally posted by Hazelnut
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

I know that your thread isn't talking about this precisely, but I wanted to chime in with my observation that whenever I'm talking on my cell phone, I walk in circles, clockwise. When my daughter and I talk to each other on the phone and we both walk in circles during the entire conversation.

YES!!! I do that too. I never thought about it before, but I do. I wonder if I only do it during conversations where I am lost. I'll have to pay more attention to that

Tee hee! She is so much like me it is scary sometimes. I know that if I'm thinking or feeling something, she is too. Its weird sometimes but cool too.

She lives about 100 miles away. One day she mentioned that it helped her to think better on the phone when walking in circles. I about died laughing because I was doing the same thing. LOL

Thanks for starting this thread, it is interesting to discover that things we don't pay attention to.

we resort to our most primal instincts without knowing it..

Since life comes and goes in cycles and everything within does also, it would make sense for us to naturally walk in circles as we are just following the pattern of life.....

Only once you introduce something else into the equation does the duality form...

Right /left

Foward / backward....

This way/ that way....

These only come about when we don't observe the circular nature of life...


at least this is my opinion.

reply to post by LucidDreamer85


But couldn't those be circular as well?

I mean you go right enough times, you will eventually be going left.

I have a very hard time believing I would walk in circles. These days it should be easy to try and find out though. GPS is everywhere.

We did an experiment on this @ a Knapp-in.
Using a snug blindfold, so that your only navigations skills are "feel"
Always in circles! over 50ppl tried this.
We came to the conclusion, that this is why landmarks, and reading the skys, was so important, to native americans.
For example a BIG field 10,000 acres and fog, or desert situation.
Was what we were trying to replicate.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
reply to post by Aggie Man

 

I know that your thread isn't talking about this precisely, but I wanted to chime in with my observation that whenever I'm talking on my cell phone, I walk in circles, clockwise. When my daughter and I talk to each other on the phone and we both walk in circles during the entire conversation.

To add to that, if I take a call while driving and it absorbs me, I find that I drive in circles, always clockwise, but I assume that's because i just make easy, right turns at the intersections rather than devoting more brain power to the intricacies of a left hand turn at an intersection. It's like autopilot.