There seems to be quite a lot of evidence, including a study with over a million participants (!). The primary correlates seem to be bipolar, unipolar depression/anxiety, and psychosis.
Interestingly, back when a certain very prominant LWer was 16 or so, he credited his maths ability largely to depression. (I don’t know whether he still believes this). The idea here is that analytical problem solving is linked to depression, because the brain has evolved to dedicated more resources to problem solving when depressed, because depressed people presumably have problems that need solving.
Bipolar people would also have a drive to create while in the manic phase.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_mental_illness
There seems to be quite a lot of evidence, including a study with over a million participants (!). The primary correlates seem to be bipolar, unipolar depression/anxiety, and psychosis.
Interestingly, back when a certain very prominant LWer was 16 or so, he credited his maths ability largely to depression. (I don’t know whether he still believes this). The idea here is that analytical problem solving is linked to depression, because the brain has evolved to dedicated more resources to problem solving when depressed, because depressed people presumably have problems that need solving.
Bipolar people would also have a drive to create while in the manic phase.