Delayed Echoes

Psychologist Severine Koch and her colleagues at Radboud University Nijmegen ran this simple experiment. They had volunteers walk just a few steps, either forward, backward, to the left or to the right. Then they immediately took the Stroop test. This is the test with the names of colors printed in different color inks; the word blue, for example, might be printed in blue—or it might be printed in red or yellow.

The results, reported in the May issue of the journal Psychological Science, were intriguing. Those who had walked just a few steps backward were far more focused and attentive than were any of the others. That is, their physical retreat triggered increased mental control—presumably because of the ancient link between threat and vigilance.

This result seems almost comical, but they do come up with an explanation for why it would be the case - that retreating generally meant danger was present, and thus more mental power was needed. I’m not sure I entirely buy that, but it’s interesting nonetheless. (via Neuroanthropology)