Purpose
Imposter Syndrome (IS) entails self-doubt and fear of exposure as a fraud despite demonstrated competence. This study investigates the emotional and psychological core of IS among 813 undergraduate Health Sciences students, employing the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS).

Methods
The CIPS, consisting of 20 items designed to measure imposter feelings, was administered to participants. The scale assesses self-doubt, fear of failure, and the inability to internalize accomplishments. CIPS responses were used to create a correlation matrix used as the adjacency matrix to create a graph. This graph was analyzed using spectral clustering and hierarchical clustering as dimensionality reduction to determine the main cluster of items at the core of IS. Six core items emerged. AI-enhanced sentiment analysis (SmartFeedback) provided emotional insights, clustering emotional valences of the responses and the identified core.

Results
Core IS elements were identified in items 4, 6, 12, 13, 15, and 17, strongly correlating with IS severity. Fear predominated, present in 4 of 5 central items, followed by Anger (2/5) and Sadness (2/5). Joy (2/5) and Trust (3/5) linked to praise and recognition were framed by Fear—specifically, fear of disappointing significant individuals (items 4, 6, and 15). Items 12 and 13 reflected feelings of insufficiency, while item 17 indicated perceived intellectual inferiority, albeit excluded from sentiment analysis due to emotional neutrality.

Conclusions
Post-dimensionality reduction iterations, items (3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18) correlated with the IS’s emotional core, predominantly associated with Fear. Plutchik's theory contextualizes this fear within complex emotions—Anxiety, Contempt, Despair, Guilt, and Submission. The persistence of "negative emotions" in the hierarchy after reduction iterations suggests the mathematical operation worked along the lines of an underlying emotional valence manifold. Understanding IS is vital for nurturing a supportive academic environment. By spotlighting the psychoemotional core of imposter feelings, this study contributes to tailored interventions and support systems for addressing IS in educational settings.