Glossary

Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.

221 results found in Cognitive Accessibility.

Cognitive Prosthesis (Cognitive Prosthetic, Digital Memory Aid)
A cognitive prosthesis is a technology-based system designed to supplement or replace cognitive functions that have been impaired due to conditions such as dementia, traumatic brain injury, or other n…
Cognitive Stimulation (Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, CST)
A structured programme of activities and discussions designed to engage and stimulate cognitive abilities — including memory, attention, language, and problem-solving — in people with mild to moderate…
Cognitive Strategy Prompting (Cognitive Scaffolding, Strategy Prompting)
A design technique that provides cues or prompts within an interface to help users employ effective cognitive strategies for completing tasks, particularly benefiting users experiencing age-related co…
Cognitively Assistive Robot (CAR)
A category of socially assistive robot designed specifically to support people with cognitive impairments — most commonly mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, traumatic brain injury, or learning…
Coh-Metrix
A web-based tool developed at the University of Memphis that analyses text on more than a hundred measures of language, cohesion, and readability, including referential and semantic cohesion, lexical …
Coloured Overlay (Colored Overlay, Tinted Overlay, Reading Overlay)
A transparent coloured sheet placed over text or a digital colour filter applied to a screen to reduce visual stress and improve reading comfort for some people with dyslexia, Meares-Irlen syndrome, o…
Complementary Cognition
A theory proposed by Taylor, Fernandes, and Wraight suggesting that the human species has adapted and evolved cognitively to complement each other through cognitive specializations and effective colla…
Conceptual Model (Mental Model)
A user's internal understanding of how a system works, including what actions are possible, what the current state is, and what the consequences of actions will be. Conceptual models are critical in a…
Confabulation (Clinical) (Clinical Confabulation)
Confabulation in a clinical sense is the unconscious production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories without the intent to deceive - the person genuinely believes what they are recount…
Confirmation Message (Positive Feedback, On-track Feedback, Progress Confirmation)
A system message that reassures users they are performing a task correctly or are on the right path, as opposed to only providing error messages or corrective instructions. In assistive technology and…
Constructivism (Constructivist Learning Theory)
An educational theory that holds that learners actively construct their own understanding and knowledge through experience, exploration, and reflection rather than passively receiving information. In …
Content Simplification (Content-Level Simplification)
Simplification approaches that modify the actual informational content of text, including summarization, removal of non-essential details, and restructuring of information presentation. Content simpli…
Conversational Programming (natural language programming, LLM-driven scene modification)
Conversational programming is a paradigm in which users modify software behaviour or digital environments through natural language dialogue with an AI system, rather than through traditional developer…
Conversational Scaffolding (Scaffolded Interaction)
Human or technology-provided support, prompts, or guidance that helps individuals accomplish communication tasks they might struggle with independently. In voice assistant contexts, scaffolding includ…
Coreference (Coreference Resolution, Anaphora Resolution)
The linguistic phenomenon of two or more expressions in a text referring to the same real-world entity — for example, "Sam", "she", and "the scientist" all referring to the same person. Coreference re…
Cross-modal Congruency
The temporal, spatial, and semantic alignment of sensory cues during an interaction — for example, a visual event and its accompanying sound occurring at the same moment and in the same location, with…
Dale-Chall Readability Formula (Dale-Chall, New Dale-Chall)
A readability formula first published by Edgar Dale and Jeanne Chall in 1948 and revised in 1995. Unlike formulas that rely only on surface counts, Dale-Chall compares every word in a text against a m…
Decimal System (Base-10 System, Decimal Number System)
The standard numeral system using ten digits (0-9) where the value of each digit depends on its position, with each position representing a power of ten. Understanding the decimal system requires gras…
Decision Delay (Cognitive Delay, Selection Delay)
The time a user spends deciding whether to accept or reject a suggestion from a predictive system, such as a word prediction list on an assistive technology device or keyboard. Decision delay is a cog…
Deictic Gesture (Pointing Gesture)
A deictic gesture is a pointing or indicating motion (typically with a finger, but also with gaze, head, or tool) that directs another person's attention to a specific referent in the shared environme…