Spatial Disorientation

Spatial disorientation is the inability to accurately determine one own position or relative motion, and it occurs most commonly during periods of poor visibility, since vision is normally the dominant sense used for orientation. The auditory, vestibular and proprioceptive systems ordinarily work together with vision to coordinate movement and balance, but in the absence of strong visual cues these systems can produce illusory nonvisual sensations that lead to spatial disorientation instead. In aviation, spatial disorientation can cause a pilot to misperceive the aircraft attitude relative to the horizon, resulting in an inadvertent turn, climb or descent, a risk that is greatest at night or in poor weather when no visible horizon is available and pilots must rely on instruments instead; the condition can also arise in other settings with reduced visibility, such as underwater diving. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/