Why?
Chinese have been using it for years to identify people on cctv. Only way to beat them: silly walks.
We definitely have a movement signature. I have trouble recognising faces, yet I can identify a friend from far away as long as they move. This has been my coping strategy for years - I pay attention to how people move so I can recognise them later when my facial recognition abilities fail me as they so often do.
1
At my grandmother’s funeral, a woman approached me and told me how much I reminded her of my mother, who had been a former high school classmate of hers. At the time, I was in early 30’s and my mother had been dead for about 10 years. I replied that I had never heard that before and she said, “it’s not so much your face and hair, but the way you walk.”
1
I supervised some
People. About 7-8
Of them. One of them or
Maybe more complained to upper command that I was intimidating people with the way I walk. My boss came and told me about the complaint and asked
If I could walk differently. I said I’d try but I only knew how to walk one way my whole
Life.
Yes, there are underlying patterns that define how we move. If you want to change them, or other habits, you'll want to take lessons in the Alexander Technique. Unfortunately, a good AT teacher in the US is very rare.
1
In 1999, I was working as a research assistant in a University Department of Pediatric Psychiatry. The pediatric psychiatrist/psychopharmacologist with whom I worked specialized in pediatric bipolar disorder. We frequently worked with and received referrals from a wonderful neurologist, who was convinced that there were distinct patterns in gait related to various mental illnesses. Because of this belief, he always had his patients walk up and down a hallway, and he videotaped them and reviewed those tapes looking for patterns. Sadly, he died before he came to any conclusions, but when I see articles like this, I always think of that neurologist, and how ahead of his times he was.
8
yesterday reviewing our strata (condo) CCTV recordings of a bicycle theft, I noticed the offender had not only distinctive tattoos which I have since referred to the police in case they have related info of known crims
but also a distinctive walk - a little bit insouciant, swinging shoulders a bit ape-like, with bouncy side-to-side step
I reckon if police recognise a known offender, and compare my video to his natural gait, it'll be time for his cell (1) phone (call).
Walking towards an old friend I hadn't seen in 20 years or more, her greeting when I finally got within hugging distance was,"I knew it was you by the way you walked".
6
"...or if it ever will be feasible and affordable for most of us to learn our particular movement signature.
And once you take that life-changing hit, it's probably altered forever. I certainly can't keep up with my own movement signature.
1
I wonder if they'd be able to correlate movement styles to personality traits.
3
@Mike Mike Well yes. The link between personalities and movement patterns can be understood if you study affective neuroscience.
George Harrison had it right all along-
“Something in the way she moves attracts me like no other.”
18
@ArtM First thing I thought of. Rather unexplainable, isn't it?
I once worked with a guy who did impressions. He’d say, “Who’s this?” and stand up and walk across the room. We all knew — always.
7
Comparing movement types among a large population may provide important information, but so might comparing movement types in an individual over time. Changes in pace, fluidity, balance, and posture may signal a change in a person's mood or behavior or even brain damage, such as from a "silent" stroke.
I hope the study goes well. We'd do well to learn half as much from movement as hounds learn.
6
Body movement as a means of identification is pretty obvious but these researches have moved it from the subconsious to the conscious. This isn't unique to humans either. It's also obvious in our pets--dogs and cats and horses--which means individual movement characteristics are probably universal throughout all life--maybe even plants?!
3
If you have an accident, this will all change completely. I don't recognize my walk anymore, and it changes depending on how stiff or uncomfortable I am feeling that day. My arms sometimes flail around as I try to keep my balance and I look a bit like Joe Cocker, or I have to lean forward or sideways, usually to carry a bag. I miss my cane because, with it, I walked more quickly and with confidence and stood up straight. This is also true for family members who have aged or gained weight or developed diabetes (neuropathy) as well as a friend who had a stroke.
4
@Stephanie Wood - when my 80yo brother-in-law visited for a special concert, as he was older, knowing to allow more time to walk to the train station, I doubled the walk time estimate shown on google maps
so I was nonplussed when I found the planned train was near due when we had only walked about halfway to the station - I asked him to speed up to not miss the train - he tried, but shortly after he appeared to be almost collapsing from the effort
I had no prior experience or idea - but with help supporting his arm, we eventually made it to the station, where he needed a wheelchair to be arranged, taking another half hour
on the return journey, I measured his walk time compared to my usual 10 minutes - the time he took - 90 minutes ...
Did the study consider comparing family members? I was told that I walk exactly like my mother.
6
@Nel: You're right. From behind, my wife's walk is almost identical to her father's. Everytime I'm behind her while walking I am directly reminded of her Dad.
1
I remember my college modern dance professor telling me that she could identify specific students from far across campus. Not by their faces, but because she knew the individual way each student moved.
12
Years ago, my colleague was an identical twin in his mid 20s. His brother worked for a different company in the same office complex and was a frequent visitor to our office.
It took about a year, but eventually I was able to discern which twin was which (even if only one was present) - merely by seeing how they stood or walked. Fast forward ten years and I crossed paths with one on a busy sidewalk in NYC, and I knew which one it was.
17
Understanding your own gait (at least in a rudimentary sense) should be the norm. It would reduce medical costs over a lifetime by a significant amount and would allow for the improvement in the quality of ones life. There's a reason for all those Birkenstock and for the company's expenditure of hundreds of millions to grow their manufacturing capabilities.
3
Different bodies are built for different things...i watch runners in central park some runners look effortless others look like every inch is painful! ideally you find something you enjoy and your body is somewhat built for making you pretty good at it making it enjoyable 😃
14
@Andrew W Nonsense. Your movement patterns are a habit. Some people learn how to change their habits. You have the innate capacity to perform any activity well.
The Four Tops also said it in song: Reach Out (I'll Be There) !
3
For many years I ran at lunch with a group of coworkers. Occasionally someone new would join us. Often in the beginning their running style would be slow and awkward, but if they kept at it, over time their running would become smooth and efficient. But from the first day, from awkward to efficient, it was easy to identify them from a distance from how they moved. Somehow, even though they became much faster, something about their overall form did not change.
7
Hey, 'Dr. Hug' is my job!
2
Something in the way my wife moved has led me, in part, to be married to the same woman for 41 years.
14
"I know him by his gait" - Shakespeare.
18
And so the Ministry of Silly Walks is established.
18
Yeah, George Harrison figured this out decades ago.
14
How a person moves, or even stands still, is often an indicator of the individuals mental state. In some cases, it reveals the presence of mental damage - as it does for President Trump.
22
Greta Thunberg had a bug named after her last week.
1
@Stevie
Greta Thunbug?
8
Yeah, but... every silver lining has a dark cloud. You outlined the potential benefits of this discovery, but what are the potential abuses? How might this information be used for nefarious ends? We must ask b/c we already know the potential for all things good to be used for exploitive purposes, be it the Internet or opioids. So let's hope for the best but prepare for misuse.
5
As someone with face blindness, I mostly identify people by their gait. It is true that it is recognizable from very far away. Also quite easy to tell identical twins apart this way, once you look.
19
Most of the time I can get around without glasses despite being near-sighted (I don't drive), but this means I often don't recognize friends until they are close enough for me to see their face. (I once walked right past my boyfriend on a subway platform)
Their body's form, clothing and movement, however, can often identify them for me with a high degree of accuracy, including from the back; I can then confirm their identity by getting closer or calling out their names.
7
@ml
Why not just wear eyeglasses? They come in some very flattering styles nowadays.
1
There was a Seattle actress that we had seen in several plays. Then we saw an old Law and Order episode. I didn't recognize the face or voice of the actress playing a character, but the way she carried her body and her gestures immediately made me recognize her. My wife said no way - but the credits proved us right.
6
Dancers have always known this. No two people dance the same choreography exactly the same. We each have a distinctive style of movement, or signature. I suggest these researchers spend some time in a dance studio.
23
Exactly what I was going to say!
4
Someday there may be a phone app for picking your friends out of a crowd on a crowded train platform or at an amusement park. Playing whack-a-mole with emerging non-invasive identification technology is a losing and likely hopeless battle.
Consider that a face recognition app that is merely 90% accurate and a gait-recognition app that is 90% accurate are 99% reliable when taken together. If they are each 99% reliable they combine to make a wrong identification only 1 in 10,000 times.
That is pretty darn good and, as long as people recognize that 1 in 10,000 is not perfection.
On a less controversial topic, my former martial arts teacher works at a women's prison. He would tell us he could determie ewho would never be harassed by other inmates by observing them walk. He would also tell us he was trying to undo the bad habits and damage we had caused ourselves by living as modern American adults. We cannot divorce nature.
8
A long time ago a couple who were friends of ours baby-sat for our small kids over a weekend and took them to the park. They ran into someone they knew who also happened to work at the same company as me ... but on that day they didn't know he was a friend in common. Watching my 3-year-old son running around in the grass, he said, "that young fellow walks like someone I know at work..."
13
As agendaed individual and systemic stakeholders support, promote as well as marginalize “ diversity”- types, levels and qualities- reality, however delineated and defined, “ acknowledges” IT in increasing areas of existence. Physical “signature” being a new area.
Our "signature", of course, is aural also. I remember sitting in a crowded restaurant when I was in my late forties and a total stranger came up to our table and stated my name and said he was sure that was who I was. When asked why, he said that he had been in my class in the sixth grade and recognized my laughter, even though the restaurant was noisy and I had emitted more of a chuckle than a laugh. He said the guttural intonation was unmistakable. I had no recollection of him even after he gave his name and other personal details. I suppose our "signatures" are more observable than we may realize or care to admit.
15
As others have written, simple observation has long made it obvious that each person has a distinctive and recognizable manner of moving, often closely resembling that of a parent. Having this scientifically proven is like carrying coals to Newcastle.
In my work as an Alexander Technique teacher, my first priority is to make people aware of how they are actually moving. Since almost everyone sits, stands and walks in an unconscious and habitual manner, it is quite a revelation for students to clearly see their own movements. Once a student recognizes her own habitual movement patterns, she can then develop the capacity to make conscious choices that are new and highly beneficial.
As F.M. Alexander taught, the distinctive movement patterns people exhibit cause them to work much harder performing a given activity than they need to. Since our ways of moving are bound up in our very identities, we can change the person we think we are by changing the way we move. When we stop creating needless tension and burning energy heedlessly, we not only transform how we move but our very personalities themselves.
I hope people will consider so-called "alternative approaches" to learning beneficial movement patterns because the results are far more profound and durable than the usual "stretch and strengthen" modality of conventional physiotherapy. Alexander Technique Now is my preferred approach but there are a variety of others available for exploration and self discovery.
24
We watched a jogger while driving in CA, amazed at how much he ran like our Chicago friend back home. The leg and arm movements, the stride, the cadence; as we slowly passed him, expecting to see 'Art', we were shocked. It was Clint Eastwood.
10
I worked in a cleanroom, where everyone wore white gortex suites, helmets and booties. In this sea of anonymity, two identifiers were very apparent: the walk or amble of a fellow worker, and their eyes. Down the distant and immense hallways, I could identify all of my closest colleagues and many others as they walked. But when talking in a huddle, the most startling identifier was eye color. All eyes are spectacularly individual, all are spectacularly beautiful!
34
The human body is a noble thing meant to move constantly. We did that for a long, long time. But not any longer; now we sit.
So when we do manage to move, we waddle, slowly and painfully. Waddling is now our signature.
12
@Murray Bolesta
Speak for yourself.
8
@Murray Bolesta
I'm not so sure about our need to move constantly. You can find pictures of aboriginal people sitting as they scrape skins or whatever. But I guess you are right. Their hands were busy.
Our ancestors were made to move, and would sit to eat or do tasks and sleep at times. Our bone and muscle makeup says so. So does our heart and other organs. We wouldn’t have muscles or skeletons like we do if we weren’t built to move and move fast and adroitly and with strength. Look at some of our fine athletes and they have developed these features of the human quite well. Have you seen film of
Michael Jordan play basketball or maybe Ricky Henderson or Nolan Ryan play baseball? These are all clues of our ancestry.
Twenty years ago I participated in a five week introduction to Process Work in Portland Oregon. Each week was devoted to applications of this Jungian psychological approach. The very first exercise demonstration focused on walking and asked the question “what is additional to just walking — what is added by this person?”
The leader, Arnold Mindell, asked the student who had agreed to walk for us to gradually exaggerate his walk more and more until a story of his life cane through. We then all did the exercise to experience how much understanding of who we were could be found in this subtle distinction of what ‘we added’ to our walking.
6
I never wear my glasses even though I need to. I used to do microscopy so it was simply easier to not wear them rather than risk losing them. I could always tell who was coming down the hallway by the way each individual moved.
9
I teach Movement for Theater at a local college, and we spend serious time studying the work of Laban and Delsarte, who long ago studied and classified movement according to dynamics of force, shape, and speed (Laban) and part of the body initiating movement (Delsarte.) In a way, I guess, it's old news--except for its amazing new quantification.
8
It's also a contributor to attraction. To be taken and charmed by the way a person moves, that is completely distinct to them.
27
In addition to gait, I think stature and body mass also contribute to our ability to recognize people we know at a distance.
2
I wonder if culture has an influence, too.
I'm reasonably sure I can tell a Japanese person's walking or running gait from that of an American from far away, and I don't think the distinction is based strictly on body type.
I'd be curious to know whether others have had the same experience.
9
This has frightening implications for privacy. This seems to me to be a more effective version of facial recognition that will be harder to fool. I was surprised that this was not mentioned anywhere in the article. I'd love to hear from researchers how they reconcile this potential nefarious use case with the more laudable goals of their research.
11
Stating the obvious. No two things in nature are the same.
6
A quick read through the comments reveals that those who pay special attention to movement (athletes, dancers, actors, movement specialists) feel that their life's work has been validated as they sigh a collective "Duh!"; others are having a welcome epiphany! Thanks for a successful and interesting article.
As Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner(cm), I view, understand, and interpret movement idiosyncracies as learned patterns that were the best available solution at a particular time in that person's history. Think of the limp that persists long after the broken toe is healed; or a person's "too-perfect" posture, adopted as a protective self-preservation strategy to survive the abuse from a parent, teacher, or other authority figure. We learn our movement patterns. We can only "choose" better patterns if we become aware of them, and then learn alternatives to them. Those alternatives can potentially lead to less pain, improved performance, and greater functional abilities. Yet, even the improved movements have an individual stamp on them. Every "ideal" in movement adapts to the individual's physiology and capability in that moment.
One's movement signature may be as unique as a fingerprint, but there the analogy breaks down. Thanks to neuroplasticity, anyone can learn new and better movement patterns to help them stay engaged with meaningful activities. The movement signature can change, for better or worse, in response to life events.
30
This is muscle memory, plain and simple. We each develop unique posture and movement patterns throughout our lives based on various factors like stress, athletic training, adaptations to injuries, personality, etc. I just wrote a book about it! Thanks for this article! -Sarah Warren, CSE
11
@Sarah Warren
How correct you are. Two points. Any repetitive movement over time will attempt to defer to the one that uses the least amount of energy to effect the desired result. Another anecdotal observation occurred when I suffered a cervical stenosis which killed several nerve connections that had enervated parts of my triceps and pectoral muscles causing a partial atrophy of both. After a long PT process I attempted a bench press. To my utter surprise and confusion the afflicted (right) side arm subjective feedback to my brain was that the movement on that side was being done by an "alien" limb. Words fail to describe the feeling. Even after 20 years the afflicted side is still slightly weaker and when pushed to the limit the ghost of that old feeling returns. Bizarre!
One of the things that made John Wayne a star was the way the Duke walked or rather rolled in front of the camera. Robert Mitchum also moved well, with the lithe grace of a boxer.
But the most beautiful natural gait of any Hollywood star was that possessed by Clint Eastwood when he was young. All Clint had to do was walk onto the screen in the opening scenes as Dirty Harry or as the Man with No Name, and the mostly male. young cinema audience would erupt in applause.
We also wanted to be James Bond, of course. But more than anyone, we wanted to look like Eastwood, talk like Eastwood, smile like Eastwood, and move like Eastwood.
Even today, I wish as a man in my early sixties I could move like Eastwood at the age of eighty-nine still moves.
10
The older you get, the more you walk like your parents.
9
Dancers and Dance Teachers have known this for years. It is what separates a good dancer from a star.
Viva la difference! God forbid we should turn into robots.
12
any athlete can tell you this. im a snowboarder for over 20 years and i can see my ski and snowboard friends from far away, even if they have different gear than usual. everyone has a riding/skiing style.
13
@Ashley I was about to write with precisely this comment. I can pick out my ski buddies from 500 yards away without a second look. And the same in other sports.
1
I have known this for decades. I don't wear my glasses when I swim laps and sometimes I watch people before I get in the pool. I can recognize some people simply by the way they move. It's almost better than recognizing them by face.
12
@hen3ry
yes, astute - - I remember the days of not being able to see any faces without my glasses, or later, contacts, and that often meant at the pool - - but I could recognize people by how they moved. Unlike hairstyles or color, or clothing, it seems pretty consistent. Injuries or deterioration case changes, but elements seem to stay the same.
4
It is common knowledge among professional observers of human movement, such as physical therapists, so I don't see the value of reducing movement to these parameters that machines can detect. I would however see value of noting minor changes in muscle activation that hinted at early stoppable diseases or conditions.
5
Maybe slightly off-topic, but pay attention to the sound of people sneezing. We each do this in a distinctive way, and in some people they sound just like other family members.
8
This is probably kind of old news to any martial artists. I can tell from personal experience that after doing capoeira for a while I can easily recognize everybody from far way from they way the move the legs and swing their arms. I think this is instinctive and probably other animals can do that to their advantage.
7
My mom walks like a hen. Even now in her 70’s. It’s adorable. She’s petite with wide hips.... like a hen.
9
I once looked up suddenly to see the backlit figure of a man who showed up on the far side of the pool. I was shocked because my grandfather had been long dead by that time. My mother reached over before I said anything and remarked "I thought so, too. That's grandpa's brother." I'm not sure I had ever seen him before, but for an instant I thought I was seeing a ghost, based on his stance alone. Lovely that my mother so easily shared my thoughts, too.
36
A recent 48 HOURS TV program showed how a crime was solved because a witness was able to identify the way a man walked.
7
This is not news. What is news is that corporations will use our movements to identify us and further invade our privacy.
14
A person's gait is the last thing I notice about them. If all of the men in my building were 6' tall and weighed 180 pounds, gait might come into play. But the 6'5", 450 lb Pacific Islander who wears a winter coat in the month of September is recognizable a block away just standing still. Same with the tall, skinny rocker guy with hair that Cher would pay good money for. I hear the old lady at least a block away because she has lots of bells hanging on the walker.
I can tell the street walkers in our neighborhood apart by their wigs and skirt length. It got harder this week since we are heading into Halloween and they really dress up:)
5
I’m adopted and met my birth mom after 30 years. Her siblings comment that my gestures and hands move in the same way, I walk the same etc., behaviors that were never modeled to me. It’s DNA.. wow!
37
What you are talking about is sometimes referred to as "kinetic melody"--we do each have a kinetic melody.
27
@ Lillies- gorgeous and perfect phrase
3
This is acting workshop 101. I remember having homework freshman year--go people watch, find someone to imitate, and come back to class the next day after practicing their movements. I can still recall that person's gait 35 years later.
20
Growing up in New York City, I could always pick my brother out of a huge crowd by his distinctive gait.
Since he passed away, I find myself sometimes surprised to see an approaching man whose gait is similar, only to feel sad when I realize it’s not nor could it be my brother.
69
When I was in junior high and refused to wear my glasses, I identified people in the hallway by their gait. Recently, before I had my hip replaced, a friend complained she could not tell it was me approaching because my gait was all messed up. With a new hip, I’m back to “normal.” And the comments about familial similarities - definitely. I once went to watch a former boss’s brother try a case in court. If I hadn’t known who was trying the case, I could have guessed: the mannerisms were all the same. Very interesting topic.
15
But can you dance?
14
DNA should be added to the "individual" motions. I was meeting a distant cousin for the first time. As I approached him where he was standing on a corner, I instantly recognized the movements of my late father whom he had never met. It was uncanny, not just one gesture, but his gait, the way he scratched his head, folded his arms. I said nothing to him, and when we got to my aunt's, my father's younger sister, she immediately saw it. Later, my cousin walked into the living room where he sat, legs spread in the manner of my father's, and she immediately exclaimed, "Uncle _ _ _ _ _ !" Not my brother, my son, or I move or gesture like my father, but this man did! This also let me know something about that branch of the family, and how certain connections exist from the past without attributing them to closer individuals.
42
@djehutimesesu I never met my father but eventually came to know many of his siblings and other family members. There was an occasion when I was spending time with his sister and two of his brothers chatting and sharing stories. As I was speaking, my aunt gasped and the kitchen where we were sitting became silent. Apparently the expression on my face was remarkably similar to that of their deceased brother, my father. Genetics are amazing!
13
@Silvia Yes, genetics make us wonder what/who we are beyond what/who we think we are!
1
No comments yet about the headline triggering that James Taylor song to run through your head? C'mon, I can't be the only one...
2
@RF Actually, the headline reminded me of the Beatles'
"Something." Always thought that would be a great song for a bride's processional.
16
Down here in these parts Pacific Islanders routinely identity people by their walk. It can come in particularly handy in the security field.
7
@Stevenz - I can recognize people coming up the stairwell that shares a wall with my apartment by the sound. When the Pacific Islanders are walking up and down the steps, my floor rattles underneath me. The Ethiopians are silent as a panther. And I can always recognize the old lady in our building a block away but that is because she has a lot of bells hanging on her walker. The maintenance man slumps over as he walks.
9
Gregory Bateson, who was fascinated by patterns in living systems, wondered about the “pattern that connects” all the elements of life.
We might call that “style,” as the mark made by the ductus of a stylus; a signature. It appears, from this research, that signatures are indeed complex and deeply woven into individual human beings, and all of life.
The adjacent article on quantum computing suggests that we will soon have machines that depart from the prevalent crude binary systems that “eat their young” and arrive as new mediums for exploring nuance, considering paradox and emulating the metabolic processes of life.
Are we on the verge of an epoch of understanding, appreciating and embracing each “other” and the vitality, richness and strength that inclusion and diversity bring to life?
Or will we just make encryption the new arms race?
18
I worked at a state facility for many years employing some 500 people. There was a huge parking lot.
Over time I could easily identify various co-workers, similar in age and the same sex, at some 200 yards, only by their gait.
11
That is why it is so difficult to change running form, no matter how many times I spot check my biomechanics I revert back to my less efficient natural form.
22
How one walks is a conscious decision.
People come up with their own solution; it is unique.
1
@Andrew Larkin, MD As breathing is determined by a set of Central Pattern Generators (CPG) in the brain stem, walking is determined by a different set of CPGs in the lumbar spinal cord which receive feedback from muscle, joint and skin sensory receptors. Just as the breathing CPG can be controlled by the brain for a while, so can the neurons of the spinal CPG, but the pattern still lies in the spinal cord. If I am walking straight, my brain is not contributing to the walking pattern, but when I decided to stop and turn around, that command comes from the motor cortex to the spinal CPG.
13
Is this really a surprise? Everyone I know knows who is walking down the hallway based on sound, cadence, and step.
5
All over the world, students of Laban Movement Analysis are going “Hmpph, told you so!” (each no doubt with a distinct movement signature.) Now that there's a methodology for studying this, it would be interesting to examine another Laban tenet: that we all have “movement affinities” that make another person's movements uniquely appealing to us, based on similarities between that person's movement patterns and our own.
12
This is really creepy when combined with what China is doing with facial recognition technology. (And how the Hong Kong protesters can currently use face masks to escape detection.)
9
@L Bingo! The Chinese government have the technology, the talent, the resources and the motivation to perfect this surveillance method. For good or for ill, it is a Great Leap Forward in solving crimes (however crime is defined).
1
@Yon
Or a Great Leap Backward for fighting injustices perpetrated by a government (with there being no question of how injustice is defined).
1
As a teenager, too vain to wear glasses before they were fashionable, I could tell who was walking down the block long before my sighted friends.
20
@JN
As a kid, I played a lot of football (soccer) and I was starting to get myopic but was not aware of it: I did not wear glasses (yet). Being slightly myopic had the advantage of permitting a quicker recognition of players, including their intentions and moods. It is especially very helpful to recognize feints in football (just as in society of course!).
Alas, the glasses I had to wear after the detection of my myopia severely limited as a football player: I could not head the ball without the chance of damaging my expensive glasses. Moreover, during the struggles for ball possession, your spectacles can easily (made to) fall off.
The spectacles had, however, the advantage that you could better read the eyes and the face of your opponent. I guess that only professional poker players can tell what is more important, signaling by the opponent's eye or by his body movement; the poker players will have no interest in letting you know!
My 12 year old son and my husband have the same gait. Also my dad and I have the same stride and cadence of walking. I used to walk/jog with him when I was a kid trying to keep up with his brisk pace. He has slowed down as he is in his eighties and now he tries to keep up with me.
8
This research is reassuring to what probably people believe already. Our bodies (e.g., muscles, joints, bones) are different and they of course will generate different patterns. Just within the same individual, the body movement changes depending on how tired the body is. For instance, when one runs long distance (except maybe for Kipchoge), your body inclination, cadence, overall flow look a lot better in the initial miles than reaching the finish line. Your body finds its strengths and uses more the muscles that are in better shape to compensate the others that are struggling.
3
@Carlos I think you're right on. I believe the body, as with most things in life, finds it's strengths and weaknesses in every movement that transpires. No mystery here, after all life is a journey and we are vessels. To that point, as a teen I had the unavoidable Science class with the everpresent skeletal model of the human body. From childhood, a child has a perfect set to work with. Then of course with a few years of wear and tear it becomes evident that it changes tremendously, patterns are apparent, and although with luck the original stays intact. Few people make it without a broken bone or ligament tear. This study could be a little outdated though. The Apple Co. has algorythms imbedded into its software that reads your keystrokes to the extent of per hand use, finger stroke, finger pressure. Who knows what else can derived of from inherent software from a device that is used with the consistency of a handheld computer
3
I worked with an identical twin, whose brother would often visit. At the time, the one way I could recognize one from behind was a slight difference in gait. It was helpful bc at the time they shared an apartment and a wardrobe!
5
This is certainly objective science..proven as well by a dog's ability to identify the sound of it's owner's approach without being able to see the owner. My dog knows when my husband is walking towards our house even when he is otherwise silent. She can pick out the individual characteristics of his gait pattern without fail from those of other pedestrians passing by. And my husband assures me she does the same for me!
34
@Janet more likely your dog can smell him and if you haven’t noticed, animals have very accurate internal clocks. See how your dog reacts when his dinner doesn’t arrive at the usual time.
4
As a figurative artist, I find each person's body language distinctive and fascinating. In creating a portrait, you always have to take into account how that individual holds themselves and moves.
11
It would be interesting to try this on The Rockettes. They appear to move identically, but do they really?
23
Choreography is a learned practice. Any trained dancer can learn and replicate those kicks. What the author is talking about is what happens before after the Rockettes take to or leave the stage.
6
There will be rapid application of this to digital medicine, in which sensors are being increasingly used in clinical trials and it is important to know that the device is on the intended person.
1
Fascinating! Question as well how much of our 'movement signature' is driven by our particular physical structure and how much by learned behavior/copying. For example, I have often been told that I walk like my father. Is it largely because our body types have similarities, or because his way of moving was imprinted on me as a child watching him walk? I suspect the answer is a mixture, but it would be fun to know more.
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Like other commenters, I can identify those I know well by gait when they are too far away to see their faces. And I recall as a teenager hearing my mother's distinctive footsteps crossing a concrete floor. I knew without question it was her although I didn't know she was in the building. I think we store away all kinds of subtle visual (and aural) information about other human beings. No doubt that ability has evolutionary value in recognizing friends--and foes.
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I suspect my movements changed after suffering a stroke, beyond the obvious immediate effects. While physical therapy got me back to normality, it feels clumsy and odd sometimes, like my right side had to adjust itself to accommodate the new version of the left that was relearning everything.
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"Where the arms go the legs have to follow."
That is an old adage often referred to sprinting; and, one of th reasons that world-class sprinters are among th most beautifully sculptured human beings on earth!
But it also holds true for runners of all distances. Arm movement and th forward lean are often th most most tell-tale signatures of a runner's experience and physical condition. I have a feeling it's also what th AI program was reading in determining who-was -who after observing th subjects working out on treadmills as well as stationary bicycles.
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Many years ago I identified my then future father-in-law, whom I had never before met, by his walk. It was so similar to his son's that I knew immediately who he was.
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And my husband’s walk gets more and more like his father’s as he gets older.
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@Silvia I once met a man who knew my great-grandfather, who was born in the 1870s. "You walk like him," he told me. Chills still go down my spine as I recall that connection to a man of whom I knew so little and had only seen in several photos.
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I thought every dance teacher, good track and field or other sports coach knew this. How it develops versus is born is an interesting question.
Nationalities commonly have their own gait qualities even when you can recognize their individuals walks.
What is interesting is to watch two twin sisters, one who is fairly spastic, take three years of ballet at a university. The one without difficulties improved about the same as other third year dancers. The challenged now walked as at about the 60th percentile of college women.
To me the question is how much inborn l, how much personality and culture, and how much acquired by mimicry.
Read Dancers, Buildings, and People In the Street by the late NYT dance critic Edwin Denby! He has some marvelous chapters on the American Walk and how we walk out in a crowd anywhere in the world! (Part of it is how we walk as if we belong on this earth anywhere in the world.
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@Ramon.Reiser
Even the pace may make a difference. A long time ago I read a study that claimed that in every nation the people in the capital walk faster than the people outside the capital.
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@Ramon.Reiser indeed, as a former track and cross country coach, I felt like i knew this. it becomes very easy to identify runners at a distance after you've seen them run a few times. I even figured out who the mascot on the sidelines was in his identity-concealing costume after watching him run just a few steps.
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Thanks. Come to think of it I think in Moscow Russia that was true.
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Fascinating and Gretchen touches most of the right bases in telling this story, including both acknowledging the "old news" element, but building on that.
Two points, though: a bias and what's missing.
Very conventional-wisdom, she keeps going back to potential utility. OK, but that's not what drove me to read the story. It was the title and sub-title. No "utility" there. Relatedly, I hope there's still a role for pursuing knowledge for its own sake.
Also, no mention of potential downsides. I don't immediately see any in this area, and not to be a kill-joy, but they tend to always emerge, sooner or later. Might as well investigate and surface them. Then we have a better shot at avoiding or at least minimizing them even if this technology does prove beneficial, in all senses of the term.
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This is very interesting. My desk used to be in an entry area. I could tell who was approaching just by their footsteps. I am especially interested in hand movement. I think about how we use our hands when we speak, how we think of people who labor with their hands or admire craftsmen whose work is so detailed, and the way our brain engages when we cross left to right with our hands (we even think of people as being left or right brained). This is very interesting and I am excited to learn more!
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I am totally amazed that the concept of “body language” is offered as news.
I am very shortsighted and was awaiting the arrival of my brother at Dublin airport.
He was far off down a corridor but I knew right away it was him, just by seeing him in motion.
I don’t even see him very often but he was instantly recognizable by his gait.
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As a teenager more than fifty years ago I discovered that everyone has distinct gait posture. As long as a person is moving I can recognize them long before I can discern their faces. Nice to see this scientifically validated.
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Gait changes, along with other movement issues appear in those with Parkinson’s Disease. Those changes often show up subtly years before a diagnosis. If 1) there is commonality in those movements, or 2) changes are similar from person to person, this might be a way to get a diagnosis much earlier.
There are many potential uses for this.
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I have found that I can recognize runners (and some walkers) that I know well at a great distance from their movement patterns, long before I can see their faces, even if I haven't seen them in a long time.
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@ML Same with bike riders. Among people you ride with frequently, you recognized their form way before you see their faces.
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