Thinking about time makes you sway

People who are thinking about the past sway backward, people who are thinking of the future sway forward.

University of Aberdeen psychological scientists Lynden Miles, Louise Nind and Neil Macrae conducted a study to measure this in the lab. They fitted participants with a motion sensor while they imagined either future or past events. The researchers found that thinking about past or future events can literally move us: Engaging in mental time travel (a.k.a. chronesthesia) resulted in physical movements corresponding to the metaphorical direction of time. Those who thought of the past swayed backward while those who thought of the future moved forward.

Moving Through Time: Thinking of the Past or Future Causes Us to Sway Backward or Forward

(Image: Leaning, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from vonSchnauzer's photostream)