Can’t get that certain song out of your head?
“Whether it’s the opening lines to “Bohemian Rhapsody” or a familiar advertising jingle, we all get them. But scientists have also found ways to banish a particularly pesky tune.“
The following written content by Avery Hurt
It’s a jingle from a radio ad, or maybe the theme song to an old sitcom, or perhaps it’s a scrap of a tune you haven’t heard since high school (and didn’t much like even then). But one thing is certain — if it doesn’t stop playing in your head in a never-ending loop, you’re going to start banging your head against the wall.
Yep. You’ve got an earworm.
Earworms are as common as they are annoying. Almost everyone gets them, and some poor souls have them several times a week. Scientists call them “involuntary musical imagery” or sometimes “intrusive musical imagery.” The English word earworm is a literal translation the German word Ohrwurm. No wonder English speakers adopted the phrase. It makes perfect sense: The tune worms its way into your brain via your ears — and refuses to leave. Most often, it’s just a bit of a tune, a short passage of a song that repeats over and over and over and over and over… like a needle caught on a scratch in an old vinyl record.
Not everyone hates them. According to a recent paper reviewing the body of earworm research, some people say they actually enjoy their earworms. But the charm wears off quickly. And a really sticky tune can drive you up a wall, even if it was a song you once liked.
Can’t Get You Out of My Head
It wasn’t until the 1980s that scientists began to seriously study the phenomenon. They still haven’t figured out what causes them, but in 2016 an international team of researchers asked 3,000 people about their earworms. Read more from Discover.
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