Consider the positive impact of having a weight on a string flailing around in a cockpit when the shit hit the fan. The articificial horizon works on this same principle, but pilots are known to ignore it anyway. The whole point of instrument flying is to se aside your senses and common sense and look at your instruments.

One of the problems was that the plane was unexpectedly stable during the stall so the pilots might have dismissed the stall warnings as disconnected from reality.