Humans prefer to walk anticlockwise, scientists find – but reason is unclear

Pedestrians on a crossing in Tokyo. ‘We think that by understanding the reasons, we could better understand how we perceive the world,” Feliciani said. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

“I’m not an ambi-turner,” laments Derek Zoolander in the eponymous noughties satire about the world’s hottest male model and his rare catwalk hangup. “It’s a problem I’ve had since I was a baby … I can’t turn left.”

Now research suggests that the fashionista’s career-threatening quirk was even more unusual than previously thought. Tests reveal that when people are ambling about, they have a natural tendency to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction.