Broken Escalator Phenomenon

...namely the sensation that when walking onto an escalator which is stationary one experiences an odd sensation of imbalance, despite full awareness that the escalator is not moving.

The phenomenon was tested on a group of 14 volunteers...
and the Sherlocks on the case of A False Sense of the Kinetic in Stationary Objects  found that what is responsible is a “dissociation between knowledge and action” in the brain. Simple enough...but in the 

Mitch Hedberg's classic observation

behavioral science equivalent of legalese they elaborated:

 …it demonstrates dissociation between the declarative and procedural systems in the [central nervous system]. Since gait velocity was raised before foot-sled contact, the findings are at least partly explained by open-loop, predictive behaviour. A cautious strategy of limb stiffness was not responsible for the aftereffect, as revealed by no increase in muscle cocontraction. The observed aftereffect is unlike others previously reported in the literature, which occur only after prolonged continuous exposure to a sensory mismatch, large numbers of learning trials or unpredictable catch trials. The relative ease with which the aftereffect was induced suggests that locomotor adaptation may be more impervious to cognitive control than other types of motor learning.

So this got me to wondering if there were other similar such phenomenon in which behavior follows a perception disconnected to reality.

FOX News Brain Freeze:  Medicare/Medicaid supporters/recipients/ beneficiaries who rail against "ObamaCare."

Omnipresent Aqua Blindness:  Clean, safe, free potable water everywhere and yet millions willing to buy same thing in bottles.

Literary Hype Hypnosis :  How books like The Art of Fielding become best-sellers.

Distilled Agave Disassociation: The perception that a 90 dollar brand of Tequila is three times better than a 30 dollar one.

Attn: Fellow Metro-North Commuters

Here's what I learned about why Grand Central Station escalators are entering their 6th month of uselessness.

Five escalators at the terminal are out of service. (And are not usable as stairs)

Three of the broken escalators are in the terminal’s northern end, including one that carries commuters up from deep lower-level tracks and from there the 3 staircases to get to street level at the North End total 143 steps.

The longest escalator — which has been out sporadically over the last few years, including for two months in 2010 — broke in January and is being rebuilt.

It is supposed to reopen by June, (isn't it June yet?) 

The cash-strapped MTA has let privately owned subway escalators and elevators stay shut down for years, failing to force the companies that own the machinery to fix it, according to a 2011 audit by the MTA inspector general .

Some other report findings:

- While the MTA keeps an online list of out-of-service escalators and elevators, the agency omitted nine that were broken.

- The agency didn't even keep a list of which machinery is theirs and which are supposed to be fixed by outside companies.

- In some cases, it took up to 31 months for the MTA to get its legal office to notify the companies that their equipment was broken.

But MTA officials say they are working on resolving the issues, and despite the bureaucratic mess of it all, Grand Central is still one of my favorite places in NY.