Glossary

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Mediated Communication(also: 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 people with intellectual disabilities or complex communication needs, mediated…

Medication Management(also: Medication Adherence, Medication Compliance)

The process of overseeing and managing the medications prescribed to an individual, including remembering to take medications at the correct times, in the correct doses, and tracking what has been taken. Medication management is a significant challenge for older adults and…

Memory(also: Human Memory)

The cognitive capacity to encode, store, and retrieve information and past experiences. Memory is typically distinguished into short-term/working memory, long-term memory (which includes episodic, semantic, and procedural subtypes), and autobiographical memory of one's own life.…

Memory Aid(also: Memory Wallet, Memory Book, External Memory Aid)

A tool or device that supports memory function by providing external cues, reminders, or stored information that a person can reference. For people with dementia or other cognitive impairments, memory aids may include wallets with photos and captions, communication boards,…

Memory Cue(also: Memory Prompt, Recall Cue, Retrieval Cue)

Any stimulus — such as a photograph, sound, object, location, or verbal prompt — that triggers the recollection of a past experience or piece of information. In assistive technology for people with episodic memory impairment, memory cues are used to help individuals recall…

Memory Impairment(also: Memory Loss, Memory Deficit)

A reduction in the ability to encode, store, or retrieve information, ranging from mild forgetfulness associated with normal ageing to severe deficits caused by conditions such as dementia or traumatic brain injury. Memory impairment affects digital accessibility in multiple…

Mental Fatigue(also: 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 situations. Mental fatigue particularly affects people with dementia, traumatic…

Mental Imagery(also: Visual Imagery, Mind's Eye Imagery)

Mental imagery is the experience of perceiving sensory information, most often visual, in the absence of the corresponding external stimulus, such as picturing a familiar face or replaying a remembered scene. Imagery vividness varies widely between individuals and is commonly…

Mental Model(also: Cognitive Model, User Mental Model)

A user's internal representation of how a system, interface, or environment works, built through experience and interaction. In web accessibility, mental models are critical because screen reader users build spatial mental models of webpage layouts even without seeing them,…

Mental Workload(also: Cognitive Load, Cognitive Workload)

The amount of cognitive effort and mental resources required to complete a task. In accessibility contexts, mental workload is an important measure of how demanding an interface is to use — an interface may be technically functional but impose excessive cognitive burden on users…

Metacognition(also: Thinking About Thinking, Meta-Cognitive Awareness)

The awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes, including the ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's cognitive strategies during learning or problem-solving. In accessibility, supporting metacognition through design means providing tools and cues that help…

Micro-Prompting(also: Step Prompting, Task Segmentation)

An assistive technology approach that breaks complex multi-step tasks into individual sub-steps, presenting each step one at a time to guide users through completion. Originally developed to support people with acquired brain injury and dementia in daily activities like meal…

Micro-task(also: Microtask, HIT, Human Intelligence Task)

A small, self-contained unit of work that can be completed independently, typically in seconds to minutes, often distributed through crowdsourcing platforms. In accessibility contexts, micro-tasks such as image description, transcription, and content tagging are commonly used…

Mild Cognitive Impairment(also: MCI)

A condition involving a noticeable decline in cognitive abilities — including memory, reasoning, or judgment — that is greater than expected for a person's age but does not significantly interfere with daily functioning. MCI is distinct from dementia in that individuals…

Mind Map(also: Mind Mapping, Concept Map)

A diagram that organises information radially around a central topic, with branches and sub-branches showing related ideas, supporting details, and their connections. Mind maps were popularised in the 1970s by Tony Buzan as a general study and note-taking technique. In…

Mini-Mental State Examination(also: MMSE, Mini-Mental State Exam, Folstein Test)

A widely used brief screening tool for cognitive impairment, originally developed in 1975. The MMSE assesses orientation, memory, attention, language, and visuospatial skills through a series of questions and tasks, yielding a score out of 30. Scores below 24 typically indicate…

Money Management(also: Personal Finance Management)

The everyday practices of tracking income and spending, budgeting, paying bills, saving, and making purchasing decisions. For people with cognitive or developmental disabilities, money management is often a shared activity with family, support workers, or fiduciaries, and the…

Moneywork

A term coined by sociologist Sandra Colavecchia and introduced to HCI by Perry and Ferreira, describing the often-invisible labour of managing personal and household finances. Moneywork includes practical tasks (paying bills, budgeting, shopping, filing tax returns) and the…

Monospaced Font(also: fixed-width font, fixed-pitch font, non-proportional font)

A typeface in which every character occupies the same horizontal space, regardless of its width. Examples include Courier, Consolas, and Monaco. Research shows monospaced fonts like Courier lead to shorter fixation durations for people with dyslexia, making them a strong choice…

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") rather than distributed broadly across many concurrent inputs. Monotropism…

Multi-Layered Interface(also: ML Interface, Layered Interface, Training Wheels Interface)

An interface design approach where novice users start with a reduced-functionality layer containing only basic features, then progress to more complex layers as they become comfortable. This technique reduces cognitive load during initial learning by limiting the number of…

Multimedia Learning

The cognitive theory that people learn more effectively from words and pictures together than from words alone. According to Richard Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning, working memory processes information through separate visual and auditory channels…

Multimodal Summarization(also: Multimodal Summary, MMS)

A technique for presenting information through multiple complementary formats — typically combining pictures, simplified text, and structural diagrams — to improve comprehension of complex content. Multimodal summarization is particularly valuable for accessibility because it…

Multiple Cue Responding(also: MCR)

The ability to observe and attend to multiple features of a stimulus simultaneously (such as colour, shape, and size) and use all of those features to make decisions. Multiple cue responding is a foundational cognitive skill that typically develops around age three or four and…

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 temporal and spatial binding windows that widen with age: older adults tolerate…

Multisensory Stimulation(also: MSS)

A therapeutic and design approach that intentionally coordinates multiple sensory modalities — visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and kinetic — to support affective well-being, cognitive engagement, and behavioral regulation. MSS has a long clinical history in dementia care…

26 results.