Glossary

Search results

Italic Font Style(also: 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 barriers—Arial Italic, for example, showed the worst reading performance across…

Jakob's Law(also: Jakobs Law, Law of Familiarity)

A usability heuristic coined by Jakob Nielsen stating that users spend most of their time on other sites and expect your site to work like the ones they already know. Accessibility implication: novel interaction patterns impose higher cognitive load than familiar ones, so…

Joint Attention(also: 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 foundational social-cognitive skill that develops in early childhood and is often…

Joint Awareness

Joint awareness is a shared understanding between two or more people about a condition, situation, or state - for example, a child's sensory triggers known to both the child and their parent, or a chronic illness state visible to a patient and their caregiver. It contrasts with…

Joint attention(also: 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 skill that develops in early childhood and is often impaired in individuals with…

Landmark-Based Navigation(also: Landmark Navigation, Landmark-Based Wayfinding)

A wayfinding strategy that uses recognisable environmental features such as buildings, signs, or other prominent objects as reference points for giving directions, rather than relying solely on street names or turn-by-turn instructions. Research has shown that landmark-based…

Large Language Models(also: LLMs, foundation models)

Large language models are AI systems trained on vast corpora of text data using transformer-based neural network architectures, enabling them to generate, summarize, translate, and reason about natural language. In accessibility contexts, LLMs power conversational assistants…

Learning Disability(also: Specific Learning Disability, Learning Disorder)

A neurological condition that affects the brain's ability to receive, process, store, respond to, or communicate information. Learning disabilities include dyslexia (reading), dyscalculia (mathematics), dysgraphia (writing), and other specific processing difficulties. Learning…

Learning by Doing(also: 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-computer interaction, interfaces designed around this principle enable users to…

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 on screen), font size (minimum 12px recommended for dyslexic users), letter…

Letter Reversal(also: Mirror Writing, Character Reversal)

A reading or writing difficulty where visually similar letters are confused or substituted for one another, such as swapping b for d, or p for q. Letter reversal is commonly associated with dyslexia and can significantly impact word recognition and reading comprehension. In…

Lexical Elaboration(also: Vocabulary Elaboration)

A text adaptation technique that makes content more accessible by adding explanatory information for complex or unfamiliar words, rather than replacing or removing them. Unlike text simplification, which rewrites content using simpler language, lexical elaboration preserves the…

Lexile Framework(also: Lexile, Lexile Measure)

A commercial readability framework developed by MetaMetrics that places both texts and readers on a common scale — the Lexile measure — to support matching readers with materials at an appropriate level of challenge. A text's Lexile measure is computed from sentence length and…

Lexile Score(also: Lexile Measure, Lexile Level)

A standardised measure of text complexity and reading ability, expressed on the Lexile scale (roughly 0L to 1600L+). A Lexile text measure reflects sentence length and word frequency; a Lexile reader measure reflects the reader's ability. For accessibility, Lexile scores provide…

Linear Interaction(also: Sequential Interaction, Single-path Navigation)

An interface design pattern in which users engage with only one screen or task at a time, following a single sequential path rather than managing multiple overlapping windows, tabs, or concurrent contexts. Linear interaction reduces cognitive load by eliminating the need to…

Listening Fatigue(also: 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 reduce comprehension, concentration, and engagement over time. In the context…

Listening Window

The interval during which a voice assistant or speech-recognition system actively captures user audio after being activated (by wake word or button press). A short or fixed listening window causes premature cut-offs for users who pause while formulating speech — common for…

Literal language processing(also: 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. Literal language processing is common among many autistic individuals and can lead…

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, loss aversion significantly influences older adults' adoption of digital tools,…

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…

Narrow-Deep Interface(also: Narrow-Deep UI, Wizard Interface, Step-by-Step Interface)

A user interface design pattern that presents information across many screens, with only a small amount of content per screen. Users navigate through multiple sequential screens rather than scrolling through dense content. This approach reduces cognitive load by focusing…

Neurodegenerative Disease(also: Neurodegenerative Disorder, Neurodegeneration)

A category of diseases characterized by progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of nerve cells. Common neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). These…

Neurodevelopmental Condition(also: Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Neurodevelopmental Disability)

A group of conditions that arise from differences in brain development and affect how a person processes information, learns, communicates, and interacts with the world. Common neurodevelopmental conditions include ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyscalculia,…

Neurodevelopmental Conditions(also: Neurodevelopmental Disorders, NDD)

A group of conditions that affect brain development and function, typically emerging in early childhood. These include autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, and specific learning disabilities. In accessibility, understanding neurodevelopmental…

Neurodevelopmental Disorder(also: NDD, Neurodevelopmental Disability)

An umbrella term for a group of conditions that originate during the developmental period and involve impairments in cognitive, social, emotional, or motor functioning. Common neurodevelopmental disorders include autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, intellectual disability, and…