Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
259 results found in cognitive accessibility.
- Hyperfocus (Hyper-Focus, Flow State)
- A state of intense, sustained concentration on a task or activity, commonly experienced by people with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions. During hyperfocus, individuals may become deeply absorb…
- Immersive Analytics (3D Data Visualisation, Spatial Analytics, Immersive Visualisation)
- Immersive analytics is the application of interactive 3D, virtual reality (VR), or augmented reality (AR) technologies to support data exploration, analysis, and decision-making. By leveraging spatial…
- Immersive Storytelling (Interactive Narrative, VR Storytelling)
- A narrative approach that places users inside a story environment, allowing them to experience and interact with the narrative through spatial presence, sensory engagement, and active participation. I…
- Impostor Syndrome (Impostor Phenomenon, Impostorism)
- A psychological pattern in which individuals doubt their accomplishments and fear being exposed as fraudulent despite evidence of competence. For people with disabilities, impostor syndrome is often i…
- Information Scent (Information Smell)
- A concept from information foraging theory that describes the strength of cues in a user interface that indicate whether a particular path (link, button, menu item) will lead to desired information or…
- Information chunking (Chunking)
- The practice of organizing information into smaller, manageable groups or segments to reduce cognitive load and improve comprehension and retention. Rooted in cognitive psychology research on working …
- Inhibitory Control (Response Inhibition, Impulse Control)
- The executive function that enables a person to suppress automatic or impulsive responses in favor of more appropriate, goal-directed behavior. Inhibitory control is essential for tasks requiring sust…
- Instructional design (Learning design)
- The systematic process of creating educational or instructional materials and experiences that facilitate effective learning and task completion. In accessibility, instructional design principles ensu…
- Intellectual Disability (ID, Cognitive Disability, Learning Disability (UK))
- A disability characterized by significant limitations in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and adaptive behavior (conceptual, social, and practical skills) that originate…
- Intentional Sensory Stimulation
- A design approach for technology that deliberately leverages optimal sensory modes — visual, auditory, haptic, or multimodal — to facilitate comprehension and engagement, rather than simply reducing i…
- Italic Font Style (italics, oblique)
- A slanted or cursive-style variant of a typeface, traditionally used for emphasis, titles, or foreign words. Eye-tracking research demonstrates that italic fonts create significant accessibility barri…
- Joint Attention (Shared Attention)
- The shared focus of two or more individuals on the same object or event, typically involving one person directing another's attention through gaze, gesture, or verbal cues. Joint attention is a founda…
- Joint attention (Shared attention)
- The shared focus of two or more individuals on the same object or event, typically established through gaze, pointing, or other communicative cues. Joint attention is a foundational social-cognitive s…
- Learning by Doing (Incidental Learning, Learning-While-Doing)
- Learning by doing is a pedagogical and interface design principle in which skills are acquired through the process of performing tasks rather than through separate, explicit instruction. In human-comp…
- Legibility
- The visual clarity with which individual characters, words, and blocks of text can be distinguished and recognised. Legibility is influenced by font choice (sans-serif fonts are generally more legible…
- Listening Fatigue (Auditory Fatigue)
- The mental and physical exhaustion experienced from sustained effortful listening, commonly reported by people who are Hard of Hearing or use hearing aids and cochlear implants. Listening fatigue can …
- Literal language processing (Literal interpretation)
- The tendency to interpret language at face value, understanding words and phrases according to their explicit, dictionary meaning rather than inferring implied, figurative, or contextual meanings. Lit…
- Loss Aversion
- A cognitive bias in which people experience the pain of losing something more intensely than the pleasure of gaining something of equal value. In the context of technology accessibility and aging, los…
- Mediated Communication (Proxy Communication, Supported Communication)
- Communication that is facilitated or interpreted through a third party, such as a caregiver, support worker, family member, or communication partner who knows the person well. In research involving pe…
- Mental Fatigue (Cognitive Fatigue, Mental Exhaustion)
- A state of reduced cognitive capacity resulting from prolonged mental effort, characterized by difficulty concentrating, slower processing, increased errors, and reduced ability to handle unexpected s…