Glossary W

White matter refers to the area of the nervous system consisting mostly or mostly made of myelinated axons, such as neuronal tracts and pathways, which are characteristically white in appearance.

White-collar crime refers to a sociological concept encompassing any violation of the law committed by a person or group of persons in the course of an otherwise respected and legitimate occupation or business enterprise.

White-knuckle is an adjective which means characterized by extreme nervousness or fear. White-knuckle is a term derived from the appearance of blood-drained fists, clenched tightly around something, such as a fairground ride.

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White’s illusion refers to a display in which two (2) rectangles are perceived as differing in lightness even though they both reflect the same amount of light and even though the rectangle that is perceived as lighter receives more lateral inhibition than the one perceived as darker.

Whole object bias refers to a cognitive constraint in which children assume that a word refers to an entire object, not a part of it.

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Whole-body density is defined as a measure of the weight-to-volume ratio of the entire body; high values are associated with low body fatness.

Whole-language approach refers to the method of reading instruction based on the notions that children do not need explicit phonics instruction to learn to read and that children will learn to read if they are surrounded by interesting print material. Whole-language approach is a top-down approach to teaching reading that emphasizes the readers' active construction of meaning; usually excludes the use of phonics.

Whole-object assumption refers to a word-learning constraint according to which children assume that a new word refers to a whole object, not to a part or property of an object; assumption that words refer to whole objects and not to their component parts or characteristics. Whole-object assumption is a type of lexical constraint in which children assume when hearing a word that it refers to the whole object and not to some part of that object.