Representations of Prenatal Experiencing Across Languages: An Integrated Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling and Random-Effects Meta-Analysis

Developmental theory typically begins at birth, but evidence of prenatal learning and sensorimotor organization does not establish whether fetal experience is structured as meaning. This study examined how authored picture-book narratives represent prenatal experiencing. Segment-level ratings from a published Japanese study were reanalyzed alongside new English-, French-, and Italian-origin corpora, yielding 23 books, 509 eligible segments, and 1,988 ratings on the 1–7 Experiencing Scale. A harmonized criterion classified a segment as Level 4 or higher when its median rating was at least 4. A book-level Bayesian beta-binomial model estimated mean book probabilities ranging from 32.240% in the French corpus to 59.079% in the Japanese corpus; every credible interval was wide, and every pairwise risk-difference interval included zero. A random-effects synthesis of within-book correlations between Experiencing level and narrative position yielded a positive association, ρ = .258, 95% confidence interval (CI) [.036, .455], p = .025. However, the trajectory differed by corpus, F(3, 19) = 3.640, p = .031. It was clear in the English corpus, ρ = .610, CI [.435, .740], p = .001; positive but uncertain in the Japanese and Italian corpora; and near zero in the French corpus. Recurrence and trajectory must be kept apart. Recurrence was cross-linguistic: all four corpora portrayed prenatal life as bodily felt meaning. Trajectory was not: only in the English books did that meaning visibly build toward birth. These findings concern authored representations rather than fetal mental states.