Positive Affect Enhances the Association of Hypomanic Personality and Cognitive Flexibility.

Several lines of research have suggested a link between mania and creativity, The goal of the present study was to test whether positive affect moderated the relationship between risk for mania (assessed with the Hypomanic Personality Scale [HPS]) and a variable postulated to be a cognitive component of creativity: cognitive flexibility. Fifty-three undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a neutral or positive mood induction condition. They then completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (DKEFS) Sorting Test as a measure of cognitive flexibility. Consistent with our hypothesis, higher HPS scores were associated with greater cognitive flexibility among participants in the positive mood induction condition. Covariate analyses revealed that results were not confounded by verbal intelligence or the presence of current depression symptoms. Our findings suggest a mood-dependent link between hypomanic personality and one potential component of creative cognition.