People Naturally Walk in Circles (appeared in DIscovery )

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.

"After these experiments, I would never go into a big forest or desert without a compass or GPS anymore."

Souman's project started when a German popular-science television show approached his group with a viewer question: Why do people walk in circles when they're lost?

At first, Souman wasn't sure if that common sensation was actually true. When lost, he suspected, people might veer to the left or right. But he didn't expect them to actually walk in true circles.

To find out, he instructed nine people to walk as straight as possible in one direction for several hours.

Six walkers forged through a flat, forested region of Germany. Three trekked through the Sahara desert in southern Tunisia. (A sand storm stopped further testing in the desert). All walkers wore GPS receivers so that the researchers could analyze their routes.

The results, published today in the journal Current Biology, showed that no matter how hard people tried to walk in a straight line, they often ended up going in circles without ever realizing that they were crossing their own paths.

But there was a twist.

Circular walking befell only the four forest walkers who had to walk in overcast conditions and the one desert walker who walked at night after the moon had set. Those who could see the sun or moon managed to travel fairly straight.

Previous studies have shown that bees, pigeons and a variety of other animals move in tight circles when orienting cues like the sun are missing. The new study suggests that, whether we're conscious of what we're doing or not, people are tuned into those types of environmental signals, too.

"People find it really hard to say what they did exactly," Souman said. "It's pretty clear from our data that they do use the sun somehow."

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers challenged 15 people to walk straight while blindfolded. When they couldn't see at all, the walkers ended up going in surprisingly small circles -- with a diameter of less than 66 feet.

In repeated attempts, blindfolded walkers circled in one direction sometimes and in the opposite direction other times.

The blindfold experiment dispelled one theory -- that people might walk in circles because one leg tends to be longer or stronger than the other. Instead, Souman suspects that little mistakes in brain add up until the sense of what's straight turns into something round.

The results aren't necessarily surprising, said Randy Gallistel, a cognitive neuroscientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Most dead hikers, after all, are found within a mile, if not 100 meters from where they got lost.

Still, he said, if you do get lost, it's important to know that your body might end up doing the opposite of what your brain intends.

To counter the tendency to spiral, Gallistel suggested that hikers learn some simple Boy Scout tricks. Moss grows on the north side of trees. There is less vegetation on the south-facing side of a valley than on its north-facing slopes. And the sun moves from east to west throughout the day.

Better yet, bring a map and compass or GPS device.

"If you are going to move, make sure you know how to move in a straight line," Gallistel said, adding that it's hard to find a spot in the continental United States that's more than 20 miles from a road. "Straight lines are helpful. Circles don't get you anywhere."

There goes the Bahiri Hillibillies ‘n’ Pop came the Ligament……Crashing.!!

The last time, I had the luxury of heading for a 2-3 day Sahyadri trek was way back in 2006; when we covered the stretch from Amboli to Ahupe in Malshej region. Ever since, all such plans have not seen light of day.

Rajmachi – Bhimashankar was one such trek route that was eluding us for a while; for want of team & time. Finally both the elements fell in place.

The team comprised Rahil, Piran & Pradeep. The blokes who missed out were Fulton, Vijay, Zenosh & Mallick.

Over the past 2-3 years, have managed to develop a good bond with both Rahil & Piran; primarily because, all of us were yearning for attempting new routes rather than the tried & tested. It was with this same motley group that we had managed to undertake Rajmachi – Dhaak trek; which in many ways bestowed in us the confidence to attempt un-chartered trails.

The first monsoon trek of the season to Rajmachi was made memorable thanks to the pit vipers lazing around the route. This was followed by treks to Nakhind and Ratangad.

The 2 day trek to Ratangad – Katrabai – Kumshet was meant to be a precursor to the 3 day trek. By end of the 2 day trek, we had re-christened it RATAN…..CHAKKAR :) for the obvious reason of having lost the way completely and going around in circles. Low visibility accompanied by lack of awareness of the route from Ratangad to Katrabai Col and my unwillingness to accept the GPS findings meant, we had no clue where we were headed. By the end of it & after having reviewed the GPS findings on Google earth, we had managed to get a good grasp of the Ratangad – Katrabai terrain. The very thought of going in circles around Ratangad, left us in splits. The fallout of this trek; in spite of being thoroughly lost, it was the sense of excitement that was driving us. The Ratan ..Chakkar ..route..!!

The long weekend of August 15^th was ideal for undertaking the 3 day trek. With the all consuming work screwing my happiness, it was midnight by when I had started packing up for the trek. As discussed with Rahil, the plan was to head for Karjat and start the trek from Sandshi. The route was to take us from Sandshi via Bahiri pinnacle to Kusur and from there on to Bhimahsankar.

After a brief sleep for 3 hrs, it was time to pack the sack & head for Dadar to catch the 7 am local for Karjat. All of us made it on time & we were well and truly on our way. It was gr8 to have Pradeep; who was joining us on a trek after ages.

From Karjat, we headed for Sandshi; an hours drive by tumtum – abt 5 kms from Kondivade.

After getting generic directions of the route from the village folks, we headed towards Bahiri. This was the first time any of us were attempting this route. Rahil – our Gadget Guru had mapped the possible route on his GPS. After the Ratanc Chakkar experience, I was not too inclined to question the GPS. After the initial bit of trail finding, we were finally on the ascent to Bahiri.

It was a good ascent, with gorgeous views of the region. On completion of this section, we would have completed all possible routes originating from the Rajmachi base. After an hours climb, we decided to take a break for refreshments.

It was here that I had decided to readjust by backpack. No sooner had we again hit the trail, I felt the sack to be in an awkward position. Expecting it to self adjust as the trek progressed, I carried on. No sooner had we covered the first corner, that I encountered a 2 feet depression along the path. It was an innocuous piece of depression; which I was to have covered without much fanfare.

Unfortunately, my left leg slipped at this point and landed in the messiest of positions. The excessive load that I as carrying probably aggravated the issue. A pop was all I heard as I lay on the ground; sending shivers through me. For it was about 4 years back, while running down from Bhimashankar, my right knee ligaments had Popped once 2 many. The thought of having ligs on both knees giving up on me was disastrous. The mood amongst the gang was palpable. I did make any effort to test my knee, but the instability of the knee meant, it was an internal injury and end of the road as far this trek was concerned. Felt sorry for rest of the blokes, since we were all expecting to have a gr8 3 days in the Hills. With some strapping done on the knee and exchanging sacks with Rahil, the plan was to descend to lower ground. Descending down was a terrible experience, but was happy to get over with thanks to the support of the junta.

During the descent, Rahil managed to slip and hurt his little finger which eventually turned black n blue.

Having reached flat ground, wanted these blokes to head back & complete the trek rather wind up for good. It was encouraging to see them look at the prospect of heading back up the trail to complete the trek. So, after a brief break for lunch, we decided to part ways. While I headed back for Sandshi; these blokes headed back for Bahiri. Due to this mess up, the team had lost valuable 3 hrs.

Finding my way back to Sandshi was not easy as I had imagined. The first 2 routes that I followed took may in a completely different direction forcing me to back track. Finally, decided to follow a narrow rivulet heading in general direction of Sandshi. It was an interesting stretch of trek; which eventually landed me in a paddy field.

From here, managed to drag my knee back to the village. After some refreshments, headed back for base. An extremely disappointing end to a weekend filled with high expectations.

However was eager to know if the junta had managed to crack the route to Kusur/ Kondeshwar / and beyond.

It was around 7.00 pm when the junta called. They had pitched camp just at the base of Bahiri caves. Looking forward to further details of the trek and route from the gang.

While for me, it is back to ice packs & MRI; before planning the next attempt at Rajmachi – Bhimashankar :)