Quasi vertigo:

I started calling this a "frame of reference" problem about 15 years ago. Many of my classic hits were due to what one would think was almost a mini-seizure (*I have been to a neurologist and also had a EEG). Sometimes the very short attacks can tell you what direction the energy is coming from by the way in which the head almost jerks for a short period. It is usually one jerk that lasts no more than a second or two and the head tends to tilt in one way or another. A short dizzy spell may happen for 5 seconds or so after.

If one wants an example...the old sitting at a red light with a car next to you. All of a sudden your car feels as though it is moving. The reason being that the car next to you has started to move and you saw it in your peripheral vision. The tendancy is to put on your brakes...but they are already on and then your brain resolves the problem.
I came upon the frame of ref idea after reading and remembering the "Diggers" in Golden Gate Park in the 1960's. When they gave away free meals and clothes to those Cal newcomers, they always had a door frame which they put against a tree as a prop. It was called a "free frame of reference". They say if you can remember the 60's, you were not there:-) I was there and I remember!
Bob