Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
221 results found in Cognitive Accessibility.
- Executive function (Executive functioning, Cognitive control)
- A set of higher-order cognitive processes that enable goal-directed behaviour, including planning, working memory, attention control, task switching, inhibition of inappropriate responses, and flexibl…
- External Memory
- Information held outside the brain — in notes, calendars, photographs, voice recordings, alarms, labelled objects, or digital systems — that a person draws on to remember names, dates, tasks, procedur…
- Extraneous Cognitive Load (Extraneous Load)
- One of three types of cognitive load identified by cognitive load theory, referring to the unnecessary mental effort caused by poor instructional design or interface presentation rather than the learn…
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, FAS)
- A group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Effects can include physical, behavioral, and learning problems, with a wide range of severity. FASD is…
- Financial Literacy
- The knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions about money — including understanding income, expenses, saving, debt, interest, credit, taxes, insurance, and benefits programs. For accessib…
- Fixation Problem (Reading Fixation Difficulty, Visual Fixation Issue)
- A difficulty in maintaining stable visual focus on a specific point or line of text during reading. People with fixation problems may lose their place frequently, skip lines, or re-read the same passa…
- Formulaic Language (Formulaic Speech, Routine Language)
- Pre-established, conventionalised phrases and expressions that occur predictably in specific social or transactional contexts, such as greetings, service transactions, or ceremonial speech. In accessi…
- Functional Cognitive Disability (Functional Cognitive Limitation)
- An approach to categorizing cognitive disabilities based on the functional limitations they produce rather than clinical diagnoses. Categories typically include difficulties with memory, problem-solvi…
- GAIA (Guidelines for Accessible Interfaces for people with Autism, Guidelines for Accessible Interfaces for Autism)
- A set of design guidelines specifically developed to make digital interfaces more accessible for autistic users. GAIA addresses common barriers that autistic people face when using technology, includi…
- Game-Based Assessment (Gamified assessment, Serious-game assessment)
- The use of purpose-built games or playful interactive experiences to measure cognitive, behavioral, or skill-based constructs that would traditionally be assessed through structured tests or questionn…
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- A mental-health condition characterized by persistent, excessive, and often uncontrollable worry about a range of everyday situations, accompanied by physical and cognitive symptoms such as restlessne…
- Generative Thinking (Generative Cognition, Creative Problem Solving)
- Generative thinking is the cognitive ability to spontaneously produce novel ideas, solutions, or approaches to problems without external prompting. In the context of autism and cognitive accessibility…
- Germane Cognitive Load (Germane Load)
- One of three types of cognitive load identified by cognitive load theory, referring to the mental effort devoted to processing, constructing, and automating knowledge schemas — the productive cognitiv…
- Gist Summary (Gist, Page Gist, Web Page Summary)
- A gist summary is a brief, automatically or manually generated overview of a document or web page that captures its central theme or focus, enabling a reader to quickly assess the content's relevance …
- Global Symbols
- A community-interest company and open symbol platform that hosts multiple pictogram libraries for AAC and Easy Read, supports translation into many languages, and provides an AI-assisted SymbolBuilder…
- Graphical Model (Visual Model, Graphical Representation)
- In educational and accessibility contexts, a visual representation system that uses shapes, colours, spatial relationships, and physical manipulation to convey abstract concepts. Graphical models for …
- Guided Incremental Search (Step-by-Step Search, Faceted Browsing)
- A web navigation pattern in which users are led through a series of small, sequential choices — such as selecting categories, subcategories, and filters — to progressively narrow search results toward…
- Gunning Fog Index (Gunning FOG, FOG Index)
- A traditional readability formula developed by Robert Gunning in 1952 that estimates the years of formal education a reader needs to understand a text on first reading. It is calculated from average s…
- Hick-Hyman Law (Hick's Law)
- A principle from experimental psychology stating that the time it takes a person to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of available choices. In accessibility and interface desig…
- Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)
- A structured method for describing and analyzing tasks by breaking them down into goals, sub-goals, and operations in a hierarchical tree structure. Originally developed for industrial and safety-crit…