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Several studies have investigated the relationship between autism-linked traits and creativity in adults across the general population, but far fewer in developmental populations. Here we examined how creativity in children is linked to the autism-linked traits of empathy (i.e. ability to understand and engage with another's emotions and feelings) and sensory sensitivities (i.e. over/under-responding to incoming sensory stimuli). Our study collected data from 659 children aged 6–12, treating autism-linked traits as global and domain level features. We collected two sets of creativity data, focussing on a personality trait associated with creativity (Openness to experience; with two facets of Ideas and Aesthetics) and engagement in creative activities (with two facets of Performance and Art). After controlling for age and gender, our global measure of empathy predicted all four creativity outcomes, especially Ideas (strongly linked to curiosity, inventiveness and idea generation). Similarly, children with greater Emotional empathy displayed more creative across all four creativity outcomes, particularly creative activities (Performance, Art). Social-cognitive empathy was associated with both Openness facets, particularly Ideas. Finally, we found that sensory sensitivities predicted several trivially-size effects. Our study contributes to a broader understanding of how autism-linked traits in the general population interact with features of creativity in children.
Smees et al. (Fri,) studied this question.