Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
36 results found in Cognitive.
- Agnosia
- A neurological condition in which a person has difficulty recognising familiar objects, faces, places, sounds, or other sensory stimuli despite intact basic sensory function and general cognition. Spe…
- Alexithymia
- A subclinical condition in which a person has marked difficulty identifying, describing, and distinguishing their own emotions, often accompanied by an externally oriented thinking style and limited i…
- Amnesia (Memory Loss, Amnestic Disorder)
- A neurological condition characterised by the partial or complete inability to recall past experiences (retrograde amnesia) or to form new memories (anterograde amnesia). Amnesia results from damage t…
- Anterograde Amnesia
- A form of amnesia in which a person is unable to form new memories following the onset of the condition, while memories from before the injury or illness may remain largely intact. Anterograde amnesia…
- Attention Tunneling (Visual Tunneling, Attentional Tunneling, Cognitive Tunneling)
- A phenomenon in which a user concentrates so narrowly on a primary information source - typically a visual overlay, head-up display, or instrument - that they fail to notice relevant events, objects, …
- Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF, borderline intellectual disability, slow learners)
- A condition describing individuals with IQ scores roughly between 70 and 85—above the diagnostic threshold for intellectual disability (IQ below 70) but below the neurotypical range. Representing abou…
- Cognitive Cycle (Cognitive Processing Time, Cognitive Response Time)
- In the Model Human Processor framework, the cognitive cycle represents the time required for a person to process perceived information and make a decision about how to respond. A single cognitive cycl…
- Cognitive Disability (Cognitive Impairment, Intellectual and Developmental Disability)
- A broad category of disabilities affecting cognitive functions such as memory, attention, problem-solving, learning, and information processing. Cognitive disabilities may be developmental (present fr…
- Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML, multimedia learning theory)
- A theory developed by Richard E. Mayer proposing that people learn more effectively from words and pictures together than from words alone, because the brain processes visual and auditory information …
- Collaborative Memory (Distributed Cognition, Shared Memory)
- The process by which memory tasks and cognitive load are distributed across multiple people, typically within families or close social groups. In the context of disability and caregiving, collaborativ…
- Cross-Modal Perception (Multisensory perception, Cross-modal integration)
- The neural and perceptual integration of information arriving through two or more sensory channels — such as vision, hearing, touch, and proprioception — into a coherent experience of the world. Cross…
- Distractibility (Attentional Distractibility, Susceptibility to Distraction)
- A cognitive characteristic in which a person has difficulty maintaining focus on a task due to sensitivity to irrelevant stimuli in their environment. Distractibility is a feature of many conditions i…
- Emotion Regulation (Affect Regulation, Self-Regulation of Emotion)
- The processes by which a person monitors, evaluates, and modifies emotional reactions to achieve goals or meet situational demands — including selecting or changing situations, directing attention, re…
- Executive Function (Executive Functioning, Cognitive Control, Executive Control)
- A set of cognitive processes that enable goal-directed behavior, including planning, working memory, attention, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Executive functions allow individuals to …
- Intrusive Thoughts (Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts)
- Unwanted, distressing thoughts, urges, or images that enter a person’s mind involuntarily and are typically experienced as ego-dystonic (contrary to the person’s values or intentions). Intrusive thoug…
- Lexical Access (Lexical Retrieval, Word Access)
- The cognitive process of retrieving words from the mental lexicon during language production or comprehension. Lexical access involves activating the phonological, semantic, and syntactic properties o…
- Material Perception (Material recognition)
- The perceptual processes by which people identify and characterize the materials that objects are made of — such as wood, metal, glass, leather, fabric, or stone — using visual, tactile, auditory, and…
- Memory (Human Memory)
- The cognitive capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information and past experiences. Memory is typically distinguished into short-term/working memory, long-term memory (which includes episodic, sem…
- Mindfulness (Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness-Based Practice)
- The practice of directing non-judgmental attention to present-moment experience — bodily sensations, breath, thoughts, and emotions — typically cultivated through structured meditation, body-scan exer…
- N-back Task (N-back, 2-back Task)
- A working-memory paradigm in which participants view or hear a sequence of stimuli (letters, digits, positions) and, on each trial, respond when the current stimulus matches the one presented N steps …