Why do we sometimes get a tune or refrain stuck in our heads and play it over and over again even though itβs driving us crazy?
β’ Getting a song stuck in your head is known by many different names including stuck song syndrome, or earworm, a term translated from the German word Ohrwurm.
Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has suggested that it has an evolutionary origin. Before writing was invented, just 5000 years ago, songs helped people to remember and share information. Levitin suggests that variations of rhythm and melody provide the cues for easier recall, something that continues in communities with strong oral traditions.
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This chimes with the findings of James Kellaris, professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, who says earworms occur when you subconsciously detect something unusual about a piece of music. Usually between 15 and 30 seconds long, an earworm is replayed in your mind in a loop and is difficult to dislodge.
Music that is repetitive and simple, yet with an unexpected variation in rhythm, is most likely to become an earworm. For example, the repetitive melody and shifting time signatures of the song America from West Side Story. Kellaris claims that 98 per cent of people experience the feeling. About 74 per cent of earworms are songs with lyrics, 15 per cent are jingles from adverts, whereas instrumental pieces account for only 11 per cent of earworms.
Victoria Williamson, a music psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London, suggests a number of triggers. Earworms are more likely to be bits of songs that have been heard recently or repeatedly. A song associated with a stressful or stimulating experience is also a good candidate.
In the early 1980s, Myron Warshauer tried to exploit this by patenting a βmusical floor reminder systemβ in multistorey car parks in the US. The system helped people recall which floor they parked on by associating music and murals with each one.
Mike Follows, Willenhall, West Midlands, UK