Song Stuck In Your Head? Here's Why

Have you ever had a song that you just can't get out of your head?  No matter how hard you try, you find yourself singing or humming that song to yourself. As a person who is always listening to different music, I usually have many songs floating around in my head.  Lately, it's been "Caves" by the band Chiodos. 

Many times it can be quite irritating to constantly hear the same song playing over and over again in your head.  The term most commonly used to describe those songs that seem to ingrain themselves into our minds is earworms.

Cari Nierenberg, in her article "4 reasons a song gets stuck in your head", mentions that earworms are a very common experience.  She says that approximately 90 percent of people have them one or more times a week.

Why is it that these earworms seem to invade our everyday thinking?

Four Reasons Why

Researchers took data from 604 people who completed an online survey.  The results showed that there were four common triggers for earworms:

• Music exposure- recently hearing a song or hearing a song repeatedly.

• Memory triggers- Seeing a certain person or word or being in a certain situation reminding you of a song.

• Emotional frame of mind- Feeling a specific emotion while hearing a song could make it stick in your head.

• Low attention states- Daydreaming or dreaming while asleep can also trigger earworms

The songs that get stuck in our heads can be a song you hear often or a song that you have just heard for the first time.  They can also be a song that you either do or don't like.

There isn't a specific method to getting rid of earworms, but some suggestions include reading a book, talking to someone, or keeping yourself busy with some other activity.

Who knows what the future holds?  Maybe someone will develop a certain technique for dealing with earworms.

Source:

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/14/8800871-4-reasons-a-song-gets-stuck-in-your-head

Photo Credit:

Peter Gerdes

Michael D. Dunn

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