Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
41 results found in Virtual Reality.
- 360 Video (360-Degree Video, Spherical Video, Omnidirectional Video)
- Video content recorded or rendered to capture a full spherical or panoramic field of view, allowing viewers to look in any direction by turning their head (in a VR headset) or by dragging the view (on…
- Auto-Aim (Lock-On Targeting, Target Assist, Aim Assist)
- An accessibility feature in games and virtual environments that helps users locate and track targets without requiring precise manual aiming. Auto-aim typically scans the environment for objects of in…
- Avatar (Virtual Self, Digital Representation, Self-Avatar)
- A graphical representation of a user within a virtual environment or digital platform. Avatars can range from simple icons to fully customizable 3D virtual humans that mirror user movements. In access…
- Awe (Awe Experience)
- Awe is an emotional response to perceived vastness — physical, conceptual, social, or spiritual — that requires a person to update their mental models to accommodate it. It blends wonder, reverence, a…
- Cane Simulation (Virtual Cane, White Cane Simulation)
- A virtual reality application that simulates the experience of using a white cane (long cane) for navigation, allowing blind users to explore virtual environments through haptic feedback. In a cane si…
- Collision Detection (Contact Detection, Intersection Testing)
- In virtual reality and haptic systems, collision detection is the computational process of determining when virtual objects come into contact with each other or with a user's virtual representation (s…
- Cultural Heritage (Heritage, Digital Heritage)
- Cultural heritage is the inherited tangible and intangible expressions of a community’s history, including buildings, monuments, artefacts, landscapes, oral traditions, performance, ritual, and langua…
- Cybersickness (VR Sickness, Simulator Sickness, Virtual Reality Motion Sickness)
- A form of motion sickness experienced during virtual reality use, characterized by symptoms including nausea, disorientation, dizziness, eye strain, and general discomfort. Cybersickness occurs due to…
- Disability Signifier (DS, Disability Marker)
- A visual or auditory feature incorporated into a digital avatar or virtual representation that indicates a disability, such as a virtual wheelchair, walking cane, prosthetic limb, or hearing aid. Disa…
- Embodied Exploration
- An approach to virtual environment interaction in which the user builds understanding of a space by physically walking, turning, reaching, and sweeping rather than by teleporting or using controller-b…
- Embodied Harassment
- Harassment in virtual reality environments that targets a user's avatar body or physical representation, such as invading personal space, mimicking movements, or physically interacting with avatar fea…
- False Activation (Accidental Activation, Unintended Gesture)
- An interaction error in gesture-based systems where the system incorrectly interprets a user's resting hand position or unintentional movement as a deliberate input command. In virtual reality, false …
- Freehand Gesture Interaction (Hand Tracking Interaction, Controller-Free Interaction)
- An input method for virtual and mixed reality systems that uses camera-based hand tracking to detect and interpret natural hand movements without requiring physical controllers. Freehand gestures such…
- Gait Disturbance (Gait Abnormality, Gait Impairment, Gait Deviation)
- Any deviation from a person's normal walking pattern, including decreased walking velocity, reduced step and stride length, increased step time, asymmetrical gait, and instability. Gait disturbances c…
- Gesture Interaction (Gesture-based interaction, Gestural interfaces)
- An input modality in which users control digital systems through hand, arm, or body movements detected by cameras, depth sensors, IMUs, or wearable devices rather than through traditional keyboards, p…
- Gesture Recognition Threshold (Activation Threshold, Gesture Detection Threshold)
- The predefined parameters that a gesture recognition system uses to determine whether a user's hand movement constitutes a valid gesture input. These thresholds specify requirements such as the exact …
- Gorilla Arm (Gorilla-arm effect, Gorilla arm syndrome)
- A well-documented ergonomic phenomenon in which sustained unsupported arm elevation — typical of mid-air touchscreen, vertical display, or extended reality (XR) gesture interaction — produces rapid sh…
- Gorilla Arm Syndrome (Gorilla Arm, Gorilla Arm Effect)
- Fatigue, pain, and discomfort in the arms and shoulders caused by prolonged use of interfaces that require sustained arm elevation without support. The term originates from early touchscreen computing…
- Haptic Virtual Reality (Haptic VR, Feelable Virtual Environment)
- Haptic virtual reality refers to virtual environments that incorporate touch-based feedback, allowing users to feel virtual textures, shapes, and objects through force-feedback devices. Unlike visual-…
- Heisenberg Effect (Heisenberg Problem)
- In human-computer interaction, a spatial interaction problem where the act of making a selection disrupts the positional accuracy of the cursor or pointer. In virtual reality freehand gesture contexts…