A GENE linking schizophrenia and psychosis to creativity could help explain why genes that up the risk of mental illness have been preserved in human evolution.
Szabolcs K茅ri of Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, genotyped 200 adults who replied to adverts for creative volunteers. He tested their creative thinking and scored them according to creative achievements, such as filing a patent or writing a book.
Those with two copies of a mutation in the NRG1 gene, linked to psychosis, scored higher on creativity than volunteers with one or no copies of the mutation (Psychological Science, ). Other variations in NRG1 slightly up the risk of schizophrenia.
Advertisement
K茅ri speculates that the mutation dampens a brain region that modulates mood and behaviour, unleashing creativity in some and psychosis in others.