The earworm
How music gets stuck in your brain
Hello music-loving friend,
Let’s talk earworms!
It’s extraordinary how a catchy phrase of music can manage to find its way into your brain and hold on tight. Sometimes it’s something excruciatingly inane and catchy, while other times it actually might be something you like, which can seem great until you find yourself humming that same phrase over and over.
My current—but not yet unwelcome—earworm is the chorus from September, by Earth, Wind and Fire:
Ba de ya
Say, do you remember
Ba de ya
Dancin’ in September
Ba dee ya
Never was a cloudy day 🎵
Can you hear it already? If not, here’s the music (because why shouldn’t my earworm become your earworm?):
Like all the best villains, earworms go under a number of different names, including stuck song syndrome, brainworms, cognitive itch, brain hiccup, repetitive tune syndrome, and the like.
And they’re a universally annoying phenomenon. The term ear worm originated in German with Ohrwürm. In French they’re airs entêtants, or stubborn tunes, in Spanish they’re pegañosas canciones, or sticky songs, in Swedish they’re called hjärntefestande låtar, or brain-sticking songs, while in Mandarin Chinese they’re called 脑虫曲, or brain worm songs.
Which goes to show that wherever you happen to be or whatever language you speak, there’s always going to be the chance that a snatch of tune will become lodged in your brain.
There are a few criteria to help things along. For example, if the music is familiar and repetitive, with a catchy melody or hook or chorus, it has a higher chance of success. And it can’t be too complicated. The more straightforward the music the easier it is for our brain to process it.
The truth is that despite the fact we all are at the mercy of them, ear worms still remain something of a mystery. But what we do know is that they lodge themselves in the auditory cortex1, the part of the brain that deals with all things music, and which becomes magically reactivated when we ‘hear’ an earworm.
Our brains are ‘hearing’ or imagining this music in the absence of any sound at all, rendering the original music redundant. In other words, you don’t actually need to hear something to keep ‘hearing’ it in your head.
Imaginary music. How cool is that (unless it’s stuck in your head)?
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. If there's anything else you're curious about or would like me to explore further, please let me know.
You can comment on this post or send me a message at katepainediscoveringmusic@substack.com
And while you’re at it, why not become a subscriber?
Thanks, Kate ❤️
Kraemer, D., Macrae, C., Green, A. et al. Sound of silence activates auditory cortex. Nature 434, 158 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/434158a