Glossary

Search results

Pacing Aid(also: Pacing System, Time Management Aid)

An assistive technology that helps individuals with cognitive impairments manage the timing and sequence of activities in daily routines. Pacing aids provide cues — visual, auditory, or tactile — to indicate whether the user is on schedule, ahead, or behind, without requiring…

Pain Invalidation(also: chronic pain disbelief, pain dismissal)

The experience of having one's pain dismissed, disbelieved, or minimised by others, including healthcare professionals, family members, and social contacts. Pain invalidation is a pervasive barrier for people with chronic pain conditions, particularly primary pain syndromes such…

Pain Self-Management(also: chronic pain self-management)

A person-centred approach to living with chronic pain in which the individual takes an active role in managing their own condition through daily coping strategies, behavioural adaptations, and use of support resources, rather than relying solely on clinical interventions. Pain…

Paradox of the Active User

The Paradox of the Active User, identified by Carroll and Rosson (1987), refers to the observation that computer users systematically avoid investing time in learning more efficient tools or methods, even when doing so would yield significant long-term productivity gains. Users…

Path Integration

A cognitive navigation process in which a person tracks their position relative to a starting point by continuously monitoring their movements — including direction changes, distance traveled, and turns taken. People who are blind rely heavily on path integration when navigating…

Pattern Glare

A visual perceptual phenomenon where repeated striped or lined patterns cause discomfort, headaches, eyestrain, or visual distortions such as flickering, shimmering, or apparent movement. Pattern glare particularly affects people with dyslexia, epilepsy, and migraine, and can be…

People with Dementia(also: PwD)

A person-first term used in accessibility and dementia research to refer to individuals living with dementia — an umbrella term covering progressive neurological conditions (such as Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia) that…

Perception-Action Cycle(also: PAC)

In human-computer interaction research, the perception-action cycle (PAC) describes the continuous loop in which a user perceives information from the environment — such as the position of an on-screen element — and uses that perception to guide a motor action. The term…

Perceptual Bandwidth(also: 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 hearing: vision has extremely high bandwidth, allowing a sighted person to…

Perceptual Guidance

An instructional technique that directs a user’s attention to specific perceptual features of a target — most commonly color and on-screen location — to help them detect or disambiguate it. In accessibility contexts, perceptual guidance is used in screen-reader cues, tutorial…

Perceptual speed(also: Processing speed, Cognitive processing speed)

The speed at which an individual can accurately perceive, compare, and respond to visual or auditory stimuli, typically measured through timed tasks requiring rapid symbol comparison or pattern matching. Perceptual speed declines with age and is a significant predictor of…

Peripheral Awareness(also: Peripheral Perception, Ambient Awareness)

The innate ability to unconsciously maintain and constantly update a sense of one's social and physical surroundings without actively directing attention to them. In accessibility contexts, peripheral awareness is critical for social interaction, as sighted people effortlessly…

Perseveration(also: Perseverative Behavior)

The uncontrolled repetition of a response, word, phrase, or action that persists beyond the appropriate context. In people with cognitive impairments such as dementia, brain injury, or certain developmental disabilities, perseveration can manifest as repeatedly pressing the same…

Personal Data Externalization(also: Data Externalization)

The process of representing internal experiences — thoughts, emotions, behaviours, bodily states — in some external medium such as a drawing, written word list, spreadsheet, physical artefact, or tracking log. Drawing on Larkin and Simon's distinction between internal and…

Personalization Semantics(also: WAI-Adapt)

A W3C specification that defines standardized semantics enabling content to be adapted to individual user needs and preferences. Personalization Semantics allows web authors to add metadata attributes to HTML elements that describe their purpose, importance, or function in a way…

Personalized Learning(also: Adaptive Learning, Individualized Instruction, Differentiated Instruction)

Personalized learning is an educational approach that tailors content, pace, and delivery method to each learner's individual needs, preferences, and abilities. In accessibility contexts, personalization goes beyond selecting appropriate difficulty levels — it requires creating…

Phonological Awareness(also: Phonemic Awareness, Sound Awareness)

The ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language, including syllables, rhymes, and individual phonemes. Phonological awareness is a foundational skill for reading and writing, and deficits in phonological processing are considered a core…

Phonological Processing(also: Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness)

The ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of language, including identifying individual phonemes, blending sounds together, and segmenting words into their component sounds. Phonological processing is a core skill for reading acquisition and is one of the…

Pictograms(also: Pictogram, Picture Symbols, PCS)

Simplified pictorial symbols that represent concepts, objects, activities, emotions, or places, widely used as a form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and as a visual support for autistic individuals, minimally verbal users, and people with cognitive…

Pictograph(also: Pictogram, Picture Symbol, Graphic Symbol)

A simplified visual symbol or image that represents a word, concept, or action, used as an alternative or supplement to written text. Pictograph systems such as Sclera, Beta, and Widgit are widely used in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to support people with…

Picture Prompting(also: Visual prompting, Pictorial instruction)

An instructional strategy that uses photographs or illustrations to depict how to complete each step of a task, providing visual guidance for people with developmental or intellectual disabilities. Picture prompts can be delivered through physical cards, printed instructions, or…

Plain Language(also: Plain English, Clear Language, Simple Language)

Plain language is communication that is clear, concise, and well-organized so that the intended audience can easily find, understand, and use the information. In accessibility, plain language is essential for making content accessible to people with cognitive disabilities, low…

PrEmo(also: Product Emotion Measurement Instrument)

A non-verbal self-report tool for measuring emotional responses, developed by Pieter Desmet. PrEmo presents users with 14 cartoon-like icons representing seven positive emotions (joy, admiration, pride, hope, satisfaction, fascination, desire) and seven negative emotions…

Practice Effects(also: Test-Retest Practice Effects, Familiarity Effects)

Practice effects in cognitive assessment refer to the improvement in test scores that occurs not from genuine cognitive change but from increased familiarity with test content and format across repeated administrations. They are a significant limitation of fixed-content…

Prior Authorization(also: Pre-Authorization, Pre-Auth, PA)

A requirement by health insurance companies that a healthcare provider obtain approval before a prescribed medication or treatment is covered. Prior authorization processes often involve multi-step bureaucratic procedures — submitting documentation, waiting for review, handling…

Proactive Prompt(also: Proactive Cue)

In voice-interface and conversational-agent design, a system-initiated utterance or visual cue that surfaces a suggestion, reminder, or next step without the user first asking. Examples include suggesting the weather at a user's usual wake-up time, reminding someone to take…

Procedural task analysis(also: Task decomposition, Step-by-step analysis)

A method of breaking down complex tasks into sequential, discrete steps to understand user workflows and identify points of difficulty. In accessibility contexts, procedural task analysis reveals where users with cognitive, sensory, or motor impairments encounter barriers — such…

Process Model of Emotion Regulation(also: Gross Process Model)

A theoretical framework developed by James Gross that conceptualizes emotion regulation as a dynamic, continuous process with four main stages: identification (recognizing an emotion that needs regulation), selection (choosing a regulation strategy such as situation selection,…

Processing Speed(also: Information Processing Speed, Cognitive Processing Speed)

A cognitive ability referring to how quickly a person can perceive, process, and respond to information. Processing speed affects how rapidly someone can read, understand instructions, react to stimuli, and complete timed tasks. It naturally declines with age, beginning in…

Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities(also: PMLD, Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities, PIMD)

Profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) refers to a combination of profound intellectual disability with additional physical, sensory, or health impairments that together create extremely complex support needs. Individuals with PMLD typically require high levels of…

Progress Bar(also: Progress Indicator)

A UI element that visually communicates the proportion of a task, process, or timeline that has been completed. In media players it indicates playback position; in forms and wizards it signals completion across steps; in file transfers it shows elapsed progress. Accessibility…

Progress Tracking(also: Progress Indication, Progress Visualization)

The use of visual or auditory indicators to show how far a user has advanced through a task, document, or process. In cognitive accessibility, progress tracking serves multiple functions: it provides a sense of accomplishment that motivates continued engagement, reduces anxiety…

Prompting System(also: Prompting Device, Task Prompting Technology)

An assistive technology that provides stepwise guidance through text, images, audio, or video instructions to help individuals complete multi-step tasks such as cooking, personal hygiene, or workplace activities. Prompting systems are widely used to support people with cognitive…

Prosopagnosia(also: Face Blindness)

A neurological condition characterised by the inability to recognise familiar faces, despite otherwise intact visual and cognitive abilities. People with prosopagnosia may fail to recognise family members, friends, or colleagues by face alone, instead relying on alternative cues…

Prospective Memory

The ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future, such as taking medication at a specific time, attending an appointment, or completing a task when a particular cue arises. Prospective memory is distinct from retrospective memory (remembering past events) and…

Proxy(also: Support Person, Intermediary User)

In accessibility contexts, a person who assists someone with a disability in using technology or accessing services. Proxies may include family members, caregivers, support workers, or friends who help with tasks ranging from physical operation of devices to interpretation of…

Psycholinguistics

The scientific study of the cognitive and neural processes that underlie the production, comprehension, and acquisition of language. Psycholinguistic research measures phenomena such as reading and signing rate, comprehension under time pressure, lexical access, and the role of…

37 results.