Spatial disorientation in pilots: Towards intelligence assistance for angular orientation during flight.

In aviation, spatial orientation requires integrating body-based and external cues during movement and rotation in three-dimensional space. During flight, aircraft orientation and direction of travel may be dissociated, potentially challenging path integration, particularly when reliable external references are unavailable. Using immersive virtual reality and high-density mobile electroencephalography, human neuronal activity has been shown to realign with sensory cues. Theta phase resetting in the retrosplenial complex upon landmark presentation supports the recalibration of path integration errors during naturalistic human navigation. Therefore, characterizing the non-invasive neural correlates of angular spatial orientation during simulated flights may provide a basis for intelligent systems supporting navigation under sensory uncertainty. Rather than replacing human decision-making, this framework seeks to explore how artificial and biological systems can be integrated to enhance human navigation in challenging flight environments. Keywords: path integration; angular navigation; grid-like representations; theta oscillations; artificial intelligence;