Development and validation of the Interoceptive States Static Images (ISSI) database

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Interoception, the recognition of internal bodily signals, is crucial for homeostasis, emotional processing, and mental health.
• While self-interoception is well-studied, recognizing internal states in others remains underexplored, despite its importance for social relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a database of visual stimuli for studying the recognition of non-affective internal bodily states in others.
• To provide researchers with a freely available, validated resource for investigating social interoception.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Interoceptive States Static Images (ISSI) database, comprising 423 images of actors expressing interoceptive states and control actions.
• A two-stage validation process involving free-labelling, multiple-choice labelling, and quality rating scales.
• Calculation of five scores per stimulus to assess depiction quality, specificity, and label accuracy.

Main Results:

• Control action stimuli were more recognizable than interoceptive state stimuli.
• Significant variability in recognizability was observed among different internal states.
• The ISSI database provides reliable measures for assessing the recognition of depicted internal states.

Conclusions:

• The ISSI database is a valuable, validated resource for researchers studying the recognition of non-affective internal states in others.
• Findings highlight challenges in recognizing subtle internal states from visual cues and suggest areas for future research in social interoception.