Development and Validation of Japanese Versions of the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale and Interoceptive Attention Scale

Physical sensations arising from within the body are collectively referred to as interoception. This study aimed to develop and validate Japanese versions of the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (IAS) and Interoceptive Attention Scale (IATS) that measure subjective indices of interoceptive accuracy and attention. To test our newly developed scales, we asked two groups of participants, 281 (Mage = 40.74, SDage = 8.75; 143 women, 137 men, 1 non-binary) and 395 (Mage = 40.69, SDage = 9.80; 203 women, 192 men), to complete a translated version of IAS and IATS studies, respectively. Both scales were found to have sufficient internal consistency and retest reliability. Correlations between physical sensation-related scales and IAS/IATS, as well as weak correlations between the IAS and IATS, were found to support construct validity of IAS and IATS. Finally, prospects for future studies based on these indices are discussed. This study aimed to develop and validate Japanese versions of the Interoceptive Accuracy Scale (IAS-J) and Interoceptive Attention Scale (IATS-J), psychological scales assessing beliefs regarding interoception (physical sensation). As results of two studies, IAS-J and IATS-J were suggested to have good reliability and validity. IAS-J and IATS-J are expected to contribute to revealing complex relationships between interoception and various psychological variables, such as emotion, cognition, and mental health. In the future study, relationships between these subjective indices and behavioral indices of interoception should be carefully examined.