Are paranoid ideation and hallucination spectrum experiences differently associated with affect dynamics? A continuous-time modeling approach.

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 statistically controlling for depressive symptoms. We investigate this by using a novel statistical approach, the hierarchical Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process model. This is 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 (