Upside down vision
 

Hi all! I wonder if anyone else has had upside vision? Yesterday I was driving my motorhome and I was tired and had been on the road for about 2 1/2 hours. I was at a stop light and there was a car beside me and I was gazing at it when it all of a sudden it appeared upside down but went right side up quickly. It was maybe only a second that is saw it upside down.

Obviously really freaked me out but this has never happened before or since. I know when I get tired I have problems but never this? Has anyone experienced this before?

Thank you

Susie

Inversion Illusion
 

Hey Susie,

You sound like you have experienced an Inversion Illusion brought on by fatigue and a change in gaze from straight ahead to down and left. This can sometimes happen to drivers and are harmless. Gravity, or our perception of it plays a part. I believe that when we take our feet off the pedals it can affect our perception of gravity, we lose the downward pressure and our sense of which way is down. We use gravity as a reference signal so when that temporarily disappears we are vulnerable to illusions.

So astronauts in space commonly report inversion illusions.

Nothing to worry about.

Best wishes,

Atty

Thank you Atty for your comment it really makes me feel better and it does make sense. I really need to watch my fatigue levels....

I'm very grateful to this group for your willingness to share and help. I didn't want to mention this to anyone else because their reply wont resemble anything close to Atty's.

Thank you

Susie