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spatial disorientation

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.

spatial disorientation

Inability to determine one's true body position, motion, and altitude (or, in water, depth) relative to the Earth or one's surroundings. It may result from a brain or nerve disorder or from limitations in the normal sensory apparatus. Most clues to orientation are relayed from the eyes, ears, muscles, and skin. The senses may not perceive gradual changes in motion and may overestimate the degree of abrupt changes and overcompensate when motion stops. Airplane pilots and divers also contend with apparent changes in gravitational pull, which can lead to dangerous situations and must be overcome by training. See also inner ear; proprioception.



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He is best known in New York for having sheathed the Whitney Museum in red and blue curtains of light for the 2002 Biennial, a bravura gesture in spatial disorientation that made the massive building seem to float spaceshiplike.
Other conditions that can contribute to spatial disorientation include drug reactions, vascular disease, (3) hyperviscosity syndrome, (4) perilymphatic hypertension or fistula, (5) otosclerosis, a CNS or neurologic abnormality, inflammatory or traumatic disease, cervical spine disease, middle ear or sinus disease, and cardiac, metabolic, or allergic conditions.
Those situations include incidents in which a pilot is distracted, such as concentrating on a target, or from spatial disorientation when a pilot becomes confused and mistakes city lights for stars.
 
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