Analysis scripts re the manuscript entitled "Are paranoid ideation and hallucination spectrum experiences differently associated with affect dynamics? A continuous-time modelling approach"

Abstract of submitted manuscript:

Psychotic experiences have been associated with distortions in affective functioning, including aberrancies in affect dynamics. However, it remains unclear whether the two principal symptom dimensions of psychosis, namely paranoid ideation and hallucination spectrum experiences, are differently associated with affect dynamics, and whether associations hold after controlling for depressive symptoms. We investigate this by using the hierarchical Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process model, a continuous-time stochastic differential equations model in a Bayesian framework, that describes dynamics in affective valence and arousal via three core parameters: attractor point, variability, and attractor strength. In a community sample with varying levels of psychotic experiences (n = 116), we measured affective valence and arousal ten times a day for one week, using the experience sampling method. We found – whilst controlling for depressive symptoms – credible associations between paranoid ideation and attractor points of negative valence and high arousal. We also found a credible positive association between hallucination spectrum experiences and arousal variability. Limited evidence emerged for small associations between paranoid ideation and high valence variability as well as between paranoid ideation and high attractor strengths of valence and arousal. Hallucination spectrum experiences showed some evidence for small associations with high arousal attractor points and low arousal attractor strength. The detailed picture of affect dynamics provided by the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model reveals different affective profiles associated with paranoid ideation versus hallucination spectrum experiences that suggest different affective mechanisms of their formation and maintenance.