Light aircraft CFI/II/MEI here.
I have seen something like this when transitioning pilots from a very light airplane - like say a C-150 or J-3 size - to a "big" airplane like a C-182. A C-150 can be flown pretty well without ever touching the trim. Then you get that pilot in a C-182 and get him to start using trim. Coming down final with 2 aboard you'll be trimmed pretty much full back if you don't want to land nose first. Say Go Around and now you have a plane headed for the moon and a panicked pilot pushing full forward with many times the force his previous airplane ever needed. Even worse - hop in a C-208 with one big 600 or so HP engine out front and you really better be trimming it right.
As for the various illusions, I do everything I possibly can do to get my students to develope vertigo. You cannot imagine how hard it is to overcome your brain screaming WE ARE DIVING LEFT OMFG
when the plane is really climbing to the right or vice versa until you have to do it for real. IMHO winning this mental battle reduces the brainpower left for any other task by a lot. The "black hole" issue is pretty common in GA. You take off with good visual reference - you think - on a dark overcast night and rotate. Now your world is pitch black. Or you break out on the ILS, switch to looking outside, and then go around. Suddenly your world disapears, the plane is loud and changing pitch and flaps need to come up and you can't see anything and it can get away from you with only 150-300-600 HP to manage. Can't imagine what a half-trained pilot in a 737 would be going through.