Earworm

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An earworm is a piece of music that sticks in one's mind so that one seems to hear it, even when it is not being played. Other phrases used to describe this include musical imagery repetition and involuntary musical imagery. The phenomenon is common in normal life and so may be distinguished from brain damage which results in palinacousis.

This is also called a 'haunting melody' or 'hard-to-shake melody'.[citation needed] In Germany, an earworm is known as "ohrwurm", a type of song that typically has a high, upbeat melody and repetitive lyrics that verge between catchy and annoying. Earworm is also refereed as ‘stuck song syndrome,[1] ‘involuntary musical imagery’ (INMIs; Liikkanen, 2008), ‘brainworms’ or ‘sticky music’ (Sacks, 2007). Researchers who have studied and written about the phenomenon include Theodor Reik,[2] Sean Bennett,[3] Oliver Sacks,[4] Daniel Levitin,[1] and James Kellaris.[5]

One reason that this occurs is that melodic music tends to have a rhythm which repeats. This cyclical nature may cause endless repetition unless some way to achieve a climax is found which breaks the cycle.[6]

Research[edit]

According to research by James Kellaris, 98% of individuals experience earworms. Women and men experience the phenomenon equally often, but earworms are more likely to last longer for women and to irritate women more than they irritate men.[7]

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are more likely to report being troubled by ear worms – in some cases, medications for OCD can minimize the effects.[1]

Notable cases[edit]

Jean Harris, who murdered Dr. Herman Tarnower, was obsessed by the song "Put the Blame on Mame" which she first heard in the movie Gilda. She would recall this regularly for over 33 years and could hold a conversation while playing it in her mind.[8]

In popular culture[edit]

Mark Twain's 1876 story "A Literary Nightmare" (also known as "Punch, Brothers, Punch") is about a jingle which you can get rid of only by transferring it to another person.

In Alfred Bester's 1953 novel, "The Demolished Man", the protagonist uses a jingle specifically crafted to be a catchy, irritating nuisance as a tool to block mind readers from reading his mind.

In Arthur C. Clarke's 1956 science fiction short story, "The Ultimate Melody", a scientist, Gilbert Lister, develops the ultimate melody - one that so compels the brain that its listener becomes completely and forever enraptured by it. As the storyteller, Harry Purvis, explains, Lister theorized that a great melody "made its impression on the mind because it fitted in with the fundamental electrical rhythms going on in the brain". Lister attempts to abstract from the hit tunes of the day to a melody which fits in so well with the electrical rhythms that it dominates them completely. He succeeds, and is found in a catatonia from which he never awakens.[9]

In Fritz Leiber's Hugo Award-nominated short story "Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee" (1959), the title describes an rhythmic drumbeat so powerful that it rapidly spreads to all areas of human culture, until a counter-rhythm is developed which acts as an antidote.[10]

In episode 146b of Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob has a song stuck in his head that interrupts his day until Sandy Cheeks tries to find a way to get an earworm (in fact an actual animal) out of his head. Sandy says "someone with musical talent" can cure him (in this case, Squidward). Squidward starts playing his clarinet. The earworm gets annoyed and leaves. Squidward is then shown in bed, praising himself. The earworm comes and goes into Squidward, and now Squidward has the earworm (with his song, not Spongebob's).

In Joe Simpson's 1988 book, Touching The Void, he talks about not being able to get the tune "Brown Girl In The Ring" by Boney M, out of his head. The book tells of his survival, against the odds, after a mountaineering accident in the remote Siula Grande region of South America. Alone, badly injured, and in a semi-delerious state, he is confused as to whether or not he is imagining the music, or really hearing it.[11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Daniel J. Levitin, This is your brain on music, Dutton Adult (August 3, 2006), ISBN 0525949690
  2. ^ Reik, Theodor (1960): The Haunting Melody: Psychoanalytic Experiences in Life and Music. [1953]. Grove Press, New York.
  3. ^ Sean Bennett, Musical Imagery Repetition, Cambridge University Master Thesis
  4. ^ Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, New York: Alfred A. Knopf (October 16, 2007), ISBN 1400040817
  5. ^ James J. Kellaris, "Identifying Properties of Tunes That Get ‘Stuck in Your Head", Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology, Winter 2001 Conference, Scottsdale, AZ, American Psychological Society, pp. 66-67
  6. ^ Stephan M. Schwanauer, David A. Levitt (1993), Machine models of music, MIT Press, p. 174, ISBN 9780262193191
  7. ^ "The Straight Dope: Why do songs get stuck in your head?"
  8. ^ Cora L. Díaz de Chumaceiro (October 16, 2004), "Jean Harris' Obsessive Film Song Recall", PsyArt
  9. ^ Summary of "The Ultimate Memory" at the website of aleph
  10. ^ The Wavewatcher's Companion, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010, p. 218, ISBN 9780747589761 {{citation}}: Text "authorGavin Pretor-Pinney" ignored (help)
  11. ^ Simpson, J - Touching the Void, 1988

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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