Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
49 results found in Perception.
- Mirror Neuron System (Mirror Neurons)
- The mirror neuron system is a network of brain regions that activate both when a person performs an action and when they observe another person performing the same action. It is implicated in motor si…
- Monotropism
- A cognitive theory of autism, developed by Dinah Murray, Mike Lesser, and Wenn Lawson, that describes autistic attention as tending to be pulled strongly into a narrow focus (one "attention tunnel") r…
- Multisensory Integration
- The neural and perceptual process by which the brain combines information from different sensory modalities — sight, hearing, touch, proprioception — into a unified percept. Integration relies on temp…
- Perceptual Bandwidth (Sensory Bandwidth, Information Bandwidth)
- Perceptual bandwidth refers to the rate at which a sensory channel can transmit information to the brain. In accessibility contexts, the concept highlights the fundamental asymmetry between vision and…
- Perceptual Cycle (Perceptual Response Time, Perceptual Processing)
- In the Model Human Processor framework, the perceptual cycle is the time required for a person to perceive and register a stimulus from their environment, such as seeing a visual change on screen. The…
- Perceptual Integration (Perceptual Binding)
- The process by which the brain combines information arriving through different sensory channels — vision, hearing, touch, proprioception — into a single coherent percept of an object or event. Percept…
- Perceptual Learning (Visual Perceptual Learning, PL)
- A long-studied phenomenon in vision science in which repeated exposure to, or training on, specific perceptual features — color, orientation, spatial location, shape — produces durable improvements in…
- Point-of-Gaze (POG, Gaze Point, Point of Regard)
- Point-of-gaze is the location on a display, scene, or object at which a user's eye is currently fixating, typically reported by an eye tracker as a stream of (x, y) screen coordinates sampled at rates…
- Pseudo-Attraction Force
- A haptic illusion technique that creates the sensation of being pulled or pushed in a specific direction by exploiting the nonlinear relationship between physical and perceived acceleration. The techn…
- Psychophysics
- Psychophysics is the scientific study of the quantitative relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Founded in the 19th century, it uses rigorous experimen…
- Sensorimotor (Sensorimotor System, Sensorimotor Control)
- Relating to the integration of sensory input (proprioception, vision, touch) with motor output (muscle activation and coordinated movement). Sensorimotor processes let people plan, execute, and correc…
- Sensory Adaptation (Habituation, Olfactory Fatigue)
- Sensory adaptation is the diminishing response of a sensory system to a constant or repeated stimulus over time. Classic examples include no longer noticing a steady smell, becoming accustomed to ambi…
- Sensory Saltation (Cutaneous Rabbit Effect, Tactile Saltation)
- A perceptual phenomenon in which a series of rapid taps delivered at discrete locations on the skin are perceived as a continuous movement or hopping sensation across the surface between the tap point…
- Sensory substitution (Cross-modal substitution, Sensory Substitution Device, SSD)
- The technique of conveying information normally received through one sense via a different sensory channel, such as converting audio cues into vibrotactile feedback or visual signals. Sensory substitu…
- Simultaneous Color Contrast (Simultaneous Contrast)
- A perceptual phenomenon where the appearance of a colour is influenced by the colours surrounding it, causing the same colour to look different when placed against different backgrounds. For example, …
- Situational Visual Impairment (SVI, Situational Visual Impairments)
- A temporary reduction in a person's effective vision or reading performance caused by the environment or context rather than by a medical condition. Common examples include trying to read a phone scre…
- Sound localization (Auditory localization, Spatial hearing)
- The ability to identify the direction and distance of a sound source, relying on cues such as interaural time differences, intensity differences, and spectral filtering by the outer ear. Sound localiz…
- Spatial Reasoning
- The cognitive process of understanding where objects are, how they are oriented, and how they relate to each other in three-dimensional space. Spatial reasoning is central to tasks like assembling pro…
- Spatiotemporal Saliency (Spatiotemporal Saliency Estimation, Spatio-Temporal Saliency)
- A computer vision technique that estimates, for each pixel in a video, how visually important it is at a given moment by combining spatial contrast (features that stand out within a frame) with tempor…
- Subitizing
- The rapid, accurate perception of the number of items in a small group without counting, typically for quantities up to about four or five. Subitizing is considered a core numerical ability that contr…