Interoception is how we sense, notice, interpret, and respond to signals from inside the body. These signals include hunger, thirst, temperature, pain, breathing, heartbeat, nausea, bladder needs, tension, tiredness, and the bodily components of emotion.
Autistic people can have many different interoceptive patterns. Signals may be faint, delayed, overwhelming, difficult to identify, easy to notice but hard to act on, or strongly affected by stress and attention. This can influence eating, drinking, toileting, pain recognition, emotional awareness, pacing, rest, and knowing when support is needed.
The MAIA-2 does not test whether your body signals are objectively accurate. It describes eight dimensions of how you relate to and use internal bodily sensations.
The original MAIA was developed by Wolf E. Mehling, Cynthia Price, Jennifer Daubenmier, Michael Acree, Elizabeth Bartmess and Anita Stewart. MAIA-2 was developed by Wolf E. Mehling, Michael Acree, Anita Stewart, Jason Silas and Alex Jones.
Before You Start
Answer according to how often each statement applies to you generally in daily life, from 0 (Never) to 5 (Always).
There is no overall pass or fail. Your result is an eight-part profile, and higher scores simply mean more of the quality named by that scale.
Your answers stay in your browser. Autistic Empire does not store them.
MAIA-2 Interoceptive Awareness Profile
Your Eight-Part Profile
Each scale ranges from 0 to 5. The MAIA-2 does not provide a single overall score or diagnostic cut-off.
Using Your Results
Look for patterns rather than judging individual scores as good or bad. For example, someone may notice sensations strongly but find it difficult to regulate attention, trust those signals, or respond before a need becomes urgent.
The profile can help you describe support needs, plan reminders or accommodations, notice changes over time, or start a conversation with a clinician. It is not a diagnosis and does not measure objective interoceptive accuracy.
Developers, Sources and Permission
Original MAIA: Mehling WE, Price C, Daubenmier JJ, Acree M, Bartmess E, Stewart A. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). PLOS ONE. 2012;7(11):e48230.
MAIA-2: Mehling WE, Acree M, Stewart A, Silas J, Jones A. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2). PLOS ONE. 2018;13(12):e0208034.
The official UCSF MAIA website states that the questionnaire is public domain, available without charge, and does not require written permission for use when its permission and attribution terms are followed.