Question

The general term for an object that receives notifications of user actions is

Answer 1

The general term for an object that receives notifications of user actions is ActionListener. The ActionListener is an event handler interface, that receives action events. It is used in order to define the actions that should be taken when an user performs certain operation.For example when the
user clicks a button the ActionListener receives messages from the ActionPerformed.

Answer 2

The general term for an object that receives notifications of user actions is an ActionListener, when a user performs an action on a control somewhere in the UI an ActionEvent object is created to represent the event, depending on whether the there are ActionListeners attached or not a notification will be sent to the attached ActionListener that in turn must provide an actionPerformed method that is required by the ActionListener interface.