Keep on Truckin'

Have you ever noticed that you can recognize someone pretty easily, without seeing his face or hearing her voice, but just by catching a glimpse of him (or her) walking? There's a new article I just found (click here), reporting that:

"researchers in India are working on a... form of biometrics that could allow law enforcement agencies and airport security to recognize suspects based on the way they walk, their characteristic gait. The team has revealed details of a comprehensive framework for gait recognition by computer... [The authors] explain that human gait typifies the motion characteristics of an individual. Viewed from the side, we each have a unique gait that makes us easily recognizable."

For some unfathomably odd reason, this article reminded me that I have always noticed that Laura Bush (who is undoubtedly a wonderful person, and I do not at all intend to ridicule her here) has a very recognizable gait. The entire bottom half of her body seems to precede the entire top half, when she walks. It is almost like a very mild version of the old cartoon character in the '60's, the R Crumb character...

as above. The latest example that I saw of her distinctive gait was from her recent trip to Afghanistan: in the YouTube (here) video, you can see a glimpse of her walking style:

I can think of all kinds of people I could recognize, by their gaits, alone... I suspect there is an area in the brain that is specialized for this type of recognition (it's long been known that there is a brain area in the right parietal region that is very much involved in the recognition of human faces).