Why does some songs get stuck in our head? Neuroscience can explain

03/06/2022 at 08:06:46

Have you ever experienced a moment where a catchy music just get stuck in your head? You try to do all you can in order to forget it and get rid of it. However, it just doesn't disappear. It keeps over and over the same lyrics and rhythm playing in your memory as it were a music record. Well, you are not alone, that is a common thing that happens and neuroscience can explain it.

That phenomenon is named by neuroscience as earworm, also known as involuntary musical imagery (INMI). Usually it happens with musics that has particular feature on it, such as, are faster musics, have an easy melody to be remembered, have many repetition on the whole lyric, and have sometimes an emotional appeal. Those informations are recorded at the auditory memory center of the brain and it has been helping scientists to better understand brain network and brain functions, such as, perception, memory and emotion process.

The phenomenon of earworm happens due to cues and triggers by associate a music with moments of your life, as instance as, the first moment when you met your best friend, the smell of your favorite perfume or the taste of your favorite food. By doing that, it triggers the memory to repeat the music over and over in mind. The involuntary musical imagery is the responsible thus for the earworm phenomenon happens.

Reference:

[1] Jakubowski, Kelly; Finkel, Sebastian; Stewart, Lauren; and Müllensiefen, Daniel. Dissecting an Earworm: Melodic Features and Song Popularity Predict Involuntary Musical Imagery. Jin Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts. November 3 2016.

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Why does some songs get stuck in our head? Neuroscience can explain