But this only when she completes the steps, and this only a meager 30% of the instances we have observed; it should be noted that since observation of this particular behavior began, this percentage has decreased substantially. More often than not, given the point of origin, she will run into the desk or a wall before completing the set. This is when the behavior we are most interested in emerges.
Rather than turning to redirect or retrace her steps that way, she will walk backwards, exactly as she came. Her pace is still measured, but quicker, and she exceeds fourteen paces almost every time--indeed, the only things that stop her are the cell walls or, in those cases when less than fourteen paces are recorded, the tunnel outlets. Often, in this backtracking, she steps on and damages the task she departed from. Once stopped, by wall or outlet, she sits and, rather than restarting her task, sits only. This goes on for some time. On those occasions when she faces the camp, it has been observed that her eyes are closed; the only sign that she is both alive and awake is the sound of her breath, which is too pronounced for sleep.
In these instances, the task that was abandoned is rarely taken up ever again, perhaps suggesting (very tentatively) that the link between the task behaviors and the pacing behaviors is not arbitrary. If this is true, then those tasks that are abandoned are those that do not function; those that are returned to must be those that prove worthy of further investment and work. It is possible that these same tasks have later been tracked over and scrapped when their potential has been exhausted; as the pacing was expressed to be the behavior of interest, records pertaining to the tasks have been kept brief. Perhaps this fledgling link will encourage more study in that direction.
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