# COMPASS 2.0: psychometric representational similarity analysis distinguishes symptom structure from personal signal

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.06615 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.06615/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 0 of its 92 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Oct 2026.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Language-model ratings of depression reflect the rater more than the patient](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.08501/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Language models can score psychiatric questionnaires from speech, but agreement with self-report may reflect the questionnaire rather than the person. We introduce psychometric representational similarity analysis, a framework for comparing the structure of speech-derived scores, self-report, item wording and theory, and implement it alongside person-level construct scoring in COMPASS 2.0. We show how similarly worded items induce covariance without psychological signal. In pre-registered discovery and confirmation analyses of clinical interviews from 275 participants, language-derived symptom geometry resembled wording more than self-report, with no structure beyond wording detected by the registered tests. Geometric agreement with self-report survived assigning participants someone else's answers, whereas person-paired scores captured distress more than specific symptoms. Complementary analyses examined counselling quality and wording structure across 34 instruments and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework. These findings distinguish agreement about psychological structure from evidence that language-derived assessments track individual people.