Inferring Mental States from Bodily Representations: The Bodily Maps of Mental States Test (BMMST)

Inferring Mental States from Bodily Representations: The Bodily Maps of Mental States Test (BMMST) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Inferring Mental States from Bodily Representations: The Bodily Maps of Mental States Test (BMMST) Erika Bucci, Giacomo Handjaras, Luca Cecchetti, Giada Lettieri This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9402989/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Inferring others' mental states and emotions is central to social cognition, yet research in this domain has predominantly focused on external cues such as facial expressions and body posture. Here, we introduce the Bodily Maps of Mental States Test (BMMST), a novel instrument assessing the ability to infer mental states from holistic representations of bodily sensations. In Study 1 (n = 250), participants generated Bodily Sensation Maps (BSMs) by indicating regions of increased and decreased bodily activity for 65 mental states, revealing spatially differentiated patterns and significant inter-rater reliability for a subset of states. In Study 2 (n = 286), an independent sample inferred mental states from these maps in a five-alternative forced-choice task. Mean accuracy reached 44%, well above chance (20%), with top performers exceeding 60%. Inference accuracy varied across states and was higher for those with more distinctive and reliable somatic patterns. Errors were systematically influenced by both perceptual similarity between maps and semantic relatedness between states, each contributing unique variance. Convergent validity was supported by associations with individual differences: performance was negatively related to externally oriented thinking (alexithymia), and accurate inference of "anxiety" was associated with higher scores on the corresponding personality facet. These findings show that mental states are grounded in shared embodied representations that can be decoded by others, and introduce the BMMST as a novel tool to investigate these mechanisms in social cognition, with potential clinical applications. Social science/Psychology/Human behaviour Social science/Psychology Embodied Cognition Bodily Sensation Maps (BSMs) Somatotopic Representation Social Cognition Mental State Inference Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files TableS2.pdf Table S2 - clustering results BSMsfullset.pdf Group-level Bodily Sensation Maps for 65 mental states BODEMOstimulusselection.pdf Full list of the 65 mental states BODEMOStudy2microaccuracy.pdf Micro-accuracy values TableS1.pdf Table S1 - inter-rater reliability results BMMSTResponsesheet.pdf BMMST Response Sheet BodilyMapsofMentalStatesTestBMMST32.pdf Bodily Maps of Mental States Test (BMMST -32) Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9402989","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":623325077,"identity":"15b4de84-acb9-4792-884e-387c48d4dea7","order_by":0,"name":"Erika Bucci","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5UlEQVRIie3PoQrCQBzH8f8QtByu3nDuGf5wIDZfZYdgMixa5UCLuOpjmJaVCyt7gIUFx8BkmG3CghNPg7DTaLhvGOPgw+8OwGT6yyzRfA6Pn+XJB3Cfp/gbEegDEkW0pqMIdCm8iWbGHkiBFWQ8XMvVIp/XBGOZlxDUrcTZcsE3cOa7hK9SHiHBZMao7mKYWOJAQPI9tRRJCWjJpCHHWpFAkU6lXSGWmL5WQJGudoU2K8zFM2veIiiPGHGS2WjsI2sl9qZXOJdFNgzXcX69RZ7Xj2WRlrXXStT1Pg/8L8BkMplM+u5MX1Fwm5aBygAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0197-7127","institution":"IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Erika","middleName":"","lastName":"Bucci","suffix":""},{"id":623325078,"identity":"080a03f2-8b14-476c-a732-f9246726a22e","order_by":1,"name":"Giacomo Handjaras","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5677-8434","institution":"IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Giacomo","middleName":"","lastName":"Handjaras","suffix":""},{"id":623325079,"identity":"f572f325-31f3-4e4b-af94-16777b9df3dd","order_by":2,"name":"Luca Cecchetti","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luca","middleName":"","lastName":"Cecchetti","suffix":""},{"id":623325080,"identity":"782feba7-6c7e-478f-a327-64554e969e9e","order_by":3,"name":"Giada Lettieri","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8027-9053","institution":"IMT Lucca","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Giada","middleName":"","lastName":"Lettieri","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-13 11:00:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9402989/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9402989/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107490042,"identity":"265937e1-72eb-4923-95b2-73d9ddf6c50c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-22 02:49:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1906454,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Mainmanuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9402989/v1_covered_7760be1b-b890-4a08-abd2-74955e612a8f.pdf"},{"id":107420842,"identity":"ffa6e7b4-5b19-43a3-9038-5f276b605b39","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-21 10:26:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":59286,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Table S2 - 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