Affect-Dynamic Signatures of Psychosis Risk Across Multiple Time Scales and Contexts

Abstract

There is a critical need for identifying time-sensitive and cost-effective markers of psychosis risk early in the illness course. One solution may lie in affect dynamics, or the fluctuations of affect across time, which have been demonstrated to predict transitions in psychopathology. Across three studies, the current research is the first to comprehensively investigate affect dynamics in relation to subthreshold positive symptoms (perceptual aberration and magical ideation) and negative symptoms (social anhedonia) of the psychosis spectrum. Across multiple time scales and contexts, we modeled affect dynamics from inexpensive laboratory paradigms and social-media text. Findings provided strong evidence for positive symptoms linked to heightened magnitude and frequency of affective fluctuations in response to emotional materials. Alternatively, negative symptoms showed modest association with heightened persistence of baseline states. These affect-dynamic signatures of psychosis risk provide insight on the distinct developmental pathways to psychosis and could facilitate current risk-detection approaches.