Hack 62. The Broken Escalator Phenomenon: When Autopilot Takes Over (2)
To try it out yourself, the best place to look is somewhere like the London Underground (where you’re sure to find plenty of broken escalators) or your favorite run-down mall. You need an escalator that is broken and not moving but that you’re still allowed to walk up. You could also use the moving walkways they have at airports; again, you need one that’s stationary but that you’re still permitted to walk onto. Now, try not to think about it too much and just go ahead and walk on up the escalator. You should find that you experience an odd sensation as you take your first step or two onto the escalator. People often report feeling as though they’ve been “sucked” onto the escalator. You might even lose your balance for a moment. If you keep trying it, the effect usually diminishes quite quickly.
6.2.2. How It Works
Unless we’ve lived our lives out in the wilderness, most of us will have encountered moving escalators or walkways at least a few times. And when we’ve done so, our brain has learned to adapt to the loss of balance caused by the escalator’s motion. It’s done this with little conscious effort on our part, automatically saving us from falling over. So when we step onto an escalator or moving walkway now, we barely notice the transition, and continue fluidly on our way. The thing is, when the escalator is broken, our brain adjusts our balance and posture anyway, and it seems we can’t stop it from doing so.
Until recently, evidence for this phenomenon was based only on urban anecdotes. But now the phenomenon has actually been investigated in the laboratory using a computer-controlled moving walkway.1,2 Special devices attached to the bodies and legs of 14 volunteers recorded their posture and muscle activity. Each volunteer then walked 20 times from a fixed platform onto the moving walkway. After that, the walkway was switched off, the volunteers were told it would no longer move, and they then walked from the platform onto the stationary walkway 10 times.
Taken from : Mind Hacks
