E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Dave Hogan / MTV via Getty Images
Redfoo of LMFAO knows exactly what it takes to get a song permanently stuck in your head. Now, researchers are getting a clue, too.
When I take my early morning spinning classes, my weary brain is in a vulnerable state. Maybe that's one reason why the chorus of a particular tune, like LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" or Katy Perry's "Firework," played during the workout gets trapped inside my head for the rest of the day -- and night -- and the next day.
Known as earworms, these random snippets of songs or melodies pop into our minds repeating themselves again and again like a broken record. For me, another one was that silly jingle from the McDonald's filet-of-fish commercial, which undoubtedly would delight advertisers but I found both amusing and mildly annoying.
So it helps to know that earworms are an incredibly common experience: Studies suggest that 90 percent of people get them at least once a week. Over the last decade, researchers have spent time collecting data to learn who gets earworms, how often they occur, how long they last and which songs won't budge from our brains.
Now, a new British study in the journal Psychology of Music has tried to understand their origins. They looked at how earworms, which psychologists call involuntary musical imagery, get started in the first place.
Researchers collected data from 604 people who completed an online survey. After analyzing the responses, they identified four main triggers for earworms. The most common one was music exposure, either recently hearing a tune or repeatedly hearing it. A second reason was memory triggers, meaning that seeing a particular person or word, hearing a specific beat, or being in a certain situation reminds you of a song.
The third reason for earworms your emotional frame of mind, or "affective states." Feeling stressed, surprised or happy when you hear a song may make it stick in your head. And a fourth cause was "low attention states." A wandering mind, whether from daydreaming or dreams at night, can set off this involuntary musical imagery.
"I was initially surprised by the sheer number of idiosyncrasies within the earworm surveys -- the number of different tunes people heard and the number of unique circumstances where earworms popped up," says study author, Victoria Williamson, a music psychologist at Goldsmiths, University of London.
But it makes sense, she says, since "these spontaneous mental tunes appear to be a typical everyday consequence of the way that our brains process music."
And these "sticky songs" can be a tune you hear often or a brand new one. "Earworms are likely to be as individual as we are in both our musical tastes and music listening habits," explains Williamson.
Asked what to do when you get one, Williamson says she'll be trying to find out how people control them in her next research project." But in the meantime, she offers up this advice: "I find that occupying my mind with a task helps -- reading a book, doing a puzzle or talking to a friend."
What about you? Tell us what song has stuck in your head recently and what may have triggered it.
Related:
- Song stuck in your head? You've got an earworm
- 'Come on, Irene'? Why we mishear song lyrics
- Blinded by the lyric? Study reveals why we get the words wrong
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
LOL - I didn't know there was an actual 'technical' term for this. Every morning, without fail, when I reach the point where I am consciously aware that I am awake I also become aware of a song that's running through my head. It is almost never the same song and it is rarely a song that I have heard recently (sometimes I haven't heard the tune in decades). But it is a song that stays with me all day long! And here I thought I was unique!
And I thought I was the only one who experienced this early morning "waking" phenomenon. You have exactly described every morning of my life for the last few years. Same thing everyday... As I become alertly awake, there is, without fail, some song running through my brain. Never the same one, not necessarily one I've recently heard, and it could be one I haven't heard for years or even decades. WOW!! I didn't know this happened to other people. Maybe??? It's because I spent my youthful years immersed in music 24/7, whether listening or playing??? Nice to know I'm not the only one this happens to. And, truth be told, it's kind of a nice way to start the day... with a song running through your head!! *<[:-)
when I look up there's, when I look up there's,
when I look up there's a ha-lo ov-er me,
da da da-da, da-da somethin somethin disbelief,
I can't take it any-way....
when I look up there's......
If it is a slow day at work and I decide to kill some time by playing Scrabble on my iPhone, inevitably the theme song from Quantum Leap starts running through my head. I have no idea what the connection is.
Oh, after I watched this stupid YouTube video, it took days to get this out of my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WPKznFvfk
Orange, orange, orange-orange-orange...
mmmm,yes a tough one especially with all the music availible nowdays
i find that usually for me,playing the song thats repeating once via computer helps eliminate the repetition...i often find that the repetition is from a particulary catchy part of the song that my brain liked,but couldnt remember the rest of the song,so thus the repetition
occupying my mind with a task?HA!that hasnt ever worked for me,infact that makes the problem worse,the best idea infact is to EMPTY your mind in somes cases,thats right,force yourself to watch an algebra lecture,youll fall asleep and forget the song was ever there
or another way,perhaps simpler,turn the speakers (or heaphones) way up and blast "the gears" by dethklok in your ears,whether you like it or hate it that ought to clear most things out
for the last 2 weeks in the morning i have been getting the theme song to the show "the big bang theroy" running through my head over and over and over and over and over and over again! I'M GOING CRAZY I TELLS YA! BATSH!T BACHMAN CRAZY!!!!!!sHE;S STARTING TO MAKE SENSE TO ME !!!!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My father woke up every day, without fail, with one of two songs in his head: "Under the Boardwalk" or "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head". Whichever one it was, he would sing it all day long. It was so annoying to me, but I am certain that it was even more annoying to him. Now, whenever I hear those songs, they remind me of him so much and they make me smile. Guess it took years of annoyance for me to really appreciate them!
I, too, wake up with a different song in my head every day. I wrote them down for a few weeks and there was not one repeat. It's most bizarre and it always makes me wonder what I was dreaming.
That happened to me. In October there were about two or three weeks where I woke up hearing a man's voice singing the words "What about us?" but repeating the first two and drawing out the the last, so it sounded like "What about-what about-what about-what about-what about-what about uh-uuus?" All I could remember about it was that I had heard it once on the radio a couple years ago and then never heard it again. Hearing it first thing in the morning every morning and not remembering anything else about it drove me crazy. Finally I typed "what about us" into YouTube. The seventh result said "what about us john barrowman", and I clicked it because I like John Barrowman on Torchwood and had heard him do a cover of a song I liked. Sure enough, when I clicked one of the results that came up for "what about us john barrowman", I heard a couple seconds of piano followed by the infamous "What about-what about-what about-what about-what about-what about uh-uuus?" I listened to the song the whole way through and instantly remembered that one time I heard it on the radio years ago and loved it because it was so fresh. Maybe the waking earworm happens more often with songs we haven't heard in a while?
Two ways to get rid of an earworm that I found work:
1. Sing the song from start to finish, mentally playing the song in your head as you go. If appropriate supply any dance moves or air-guitar solos to fill the lyricless parts of the song. This, of course, requires that a) you are in a place that singing is not distracting or frowned upon and b) you know the lyrics to the whole song.
2. Do math problems in your head. It doesn't matter what kind of math - times tables, algebra, simple arithmatic - so long as you focus on the ongoing stream of math, your brain will forget that it's got a snippet of Lady Gaga playing on an endless, agonizing loop.
Something that always seems to work for me is to play the lic from Layla by Eric Clapton in my head. It gets rid of whatever song I had there before but it doesn't actually stick in there.
aye,good choice mr what,often powerfull songs or parts of songs can break the song repetition
Neil Diamond's "Shiloh".
FOR THREE DAYS!!
I am afraid to type the words for fear of it getting stuck again. I won't even let my mind think about it, but it was the chorus of the song that was stuck. Over and over and over seemingly neverending. Then, poof gone.
Here's another cure that has worked for everyone I know: sing "Happy Birthday to You." It might take a couple of times, but I have yet to see it fail, and it's super simple.
I often wake up with a random earworm - usually there will be a song running through my head, oftentimes one that I haven't listened to in months or years. It'll run through my head while I'm getting ready for work, then I'll listen to something else on the way to work, and that's it.
There's also a series of language learning CDs (called Earworms, even!) that take advantage of this phenomenon. Just listen to the CDs while you're doing whatever else, and between the repetition and the music, the words and phrases you're learning really do stick in your head!
Math? That doesn't work very well for me. I'm an accountant. Doesn't matter if I'm doing math in my head (or on a calculator or in a spreadsheet), there's always a piece of music or song somewhere else in my head. Even if the song does go away while doing math in my head, it'll just come back once the problem is solved! ...(And now there's Adele again, Rollin' in the Deep part of my brain....)
Just be thankful Adele's your earworm. There's a lot worse earworms to have.
"Moves Like Jagger"!!! It's worming it way around even as I type this...and I HATE the song, so it's even worse!!! "If I Die Young" is the other current earworm!! Pretty song, but I don't particularly like that one either. I think both are due to overplay on the radio, and now "Moves Like Jagger" is showing up on TV commercials! I usually can force it out by singing a different song to myself, an older song that isn't played to death.
You have "Moves Like Jagger" as your earworm? I think I want your problem!
bwaha,i had that one stuck in me head for a 2 mile round trip on foot carrying grocerys....and yes its a very good song that somehow goes with memorys of playing deus ex human revolution
@rbcrock-- this happens to ME TOO!!! nearly EVERY MORNING! I absolutely LOVE music, I always thought that was why. BUT, sometimes the song I wake up to is one I absolutely detest-- such as songs by Madonna-- that always makes me wonder.
It's good to know I have company in my weirdness.
I've never heard of this phenomenon, but there's enough folks writing it here to believe there's something to the "morning earworm". Sounds pretty cool, but might be annoying too! If you need to get rid of an earworm, and you like music, try flooding your brain with lyrics. There's a lyric game at www.StumpedAgain.com Long live music!
I have such a problem with this all the time that it can keep me awake all night long. My cure; simply turn the radio on (sleep mode) for 20 minutes. By playing other songs as I fall asleep my brain stops working on the one stuck in my head and starts "listening" to the others coming on. Then finally I'm asleep and no more problem.
I may wake up with a seemingly random song in my head but I suspect that I may have heard it while the radio was playing, but it doesn't bother me during the night.
I really thought I was unique in this too. I've been doing this for roughly 30 years now. It is nice to know that I share some good company.
This happens to me EVERY morning, without fail. Sometimes the song will change a few times during the day, and sometimes it's the same song for days on end. And it's almost always a song I find annoying.
The only way I've found to combat it is to listen to "Funky Spock" (a RiffTrax song from the 2009 Star Trek movie - you can find it on YouTube, just search for "Funky Spock"). Because it's funny and catchy, and I don't mind having it stuck in my head.
What is the fourth trigger promised by the headline? I could only find three.
It's in the same paragraph as the third.
I've learned that I associate songs with certain people or situations, and when that person is on my mind, that song gets stuck in my head. I'm having that problem right now.
I always wake up with songs in my head. I'm going to start a journal of what the songs are on certain days. Might be useful someday.
But what if you don't know the name of the song? That happens to me sometimes. I wake with a snippet of a song in my head that I don't even know!
Calvin, try typing the words from the snippet into the YouTube or Google search box. You should be able to figure out the title and artist that way.
Music exposure, memory triggers, affective states and low attention states.
They give me great ideas on improvising music. I grab my horn and duplicate what is in my mind.
Sometimes I have Fur Elise get started but really enjoy it. It goes away after awhile, sometimes to soon. I just enjoy it while it is there. I did not know it was called an earworm.
Everyone that I know has a problem with this song. (if you ever have been to Disneyland and gone on the ride, you are in big trouble) "Its a small world after all, its a small world after all." Now YOU have an earworm, Right! Enjoy it!!!
We are the World. I hate that song.
And My Heart Will Go On. All anyone has to do is mention the movie Titanic and that song will go on and on and on and on in my head. FOREVER.
"ewwww baby I love your wayyyyy" that lyric has been stuck in my head for years!
Wash out those moronic melodies by listening to some extra more complex music. It will prevent the "burn in" to the brain. Kind of like using a screen saver to prevent burn in on a computer monitor. It can be as simple as listening to the radio or iPod as long as the music is preferably non vocal and complex. If you only listen to the "top 100" - sorry but I can't help.
If you hate the song stuck in your head, stop involving yourself in whatever was playing it to prevent future attacks. This includes but is not limited to:
any radio station enslaved by ClearChannel
television
gyms
big chain grocery stores (I guarantee you that Coldplay will have been played at least once during your trip to the grocery store)
After my medical mishap last November (the drs never did figure out what was wrong) I had "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor stuck in my head for over 6 months, morning noon and night. I figured it was my brain trying to tell me something since the subconscious relates in images (like dreams) rather than language, and music is a pretty close second to imagery. More recently Meatloaf's "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" played in my head nearly nonstop for a week. In the past I have found I could substitute songs that don't bother me so much by listening to them or forcing them word by word and note by note into my thinking, but this doesn't work anymore. I just wait for it to pass. Earworms interfere with my concentration to the point reading or calculating is an impossibility.
One of the most diaboloical tee shirts I ever saw was worn by a friend of my son - it just said "Don't think about The Final Countdown". Try getting that song out of your head after reading that hahaha
One that I could not stand was for freecreditreport dot com. I could usually flush it out with songs I liked...if I wasn't too busy in class or something. That is why I will NEVER use their service.
I really like their little song. Thought they were quite creative!
There are two songs I HATE--"We Are The World" and "The Double-Dutch Bus!" Every now and then, those stupid songs pop into my head. Today, in the shower, "TD-DB" was the one to make me grimace! Crazy!
Must be the same for stories getting stuck, but for music maybe its time to listen to something else.
In my experience, the most likely earworms are songs that I know well but haven't heard for a while-- old TV themes, holiday songs, and oldies especially. And I've forbidden my husband to play his ABBA music where I can hear it, because for some reason their songs stick in my head like glue. I have to be careful which song I hear last, because that's probably going to be the earworm.
Worst is when you have only one line over and over.
An earworm may have saved a man's life-- he was badly wounded in a fall and trying to crawl back to camp for help, and he refused to die with whatever lousy song was stuck in his head during his ordeal. Probably gave him some strength to keep going.
The only song that pops into my head these days as an ear worm is "Singin' in the Rain" by Gene Kelly, but I'm not sure what triggers it. I've only watched that movie once and that was when I was in my twenties.
Funny thing I just heard this term 'ear worm' , to describe a phenomena I had experienced all my life, for the first time about 5 years ago and I am 55 years old!