‘Tune wedgies’ can play on repeat due to your brain’s storage and operating system — and something known as the phonological loop
A certain catchy tune pops into your head out of nowhere — and it won’t stop playing. The song just keeps going on a seemingly endless loop. Our diagnosis? You’ve been infected with an earworm.
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Psychologist Kia-Rai Prewitt, PhD, explains what that means and what you can do to hit pause.
“Earworm” is the colorful term for a song that gets stuck on repeat mode in your head. The name comes from the German word ohrwurm, which has long been used to describe this phenomenon.
The phrase is also a nod to the earwig, a creepy-looking insect accused of crawling into people’s ears to wander their brain. (The bugs typically don’t do that, by the way.)
“The imagery of an earworm is pretty spot on when you think about it,” says Dr. Prewitt. “These songs crawl into your head, seemingly out of nowhere, and then just keep going on and on.”
A more scientific term for this experience is involuntary musical imagery, or INMI — a perfect acronym if you think about it. Less official names include stuck song syndrome, musical imagery repetition and tune wedgies.
Most earworms are just a portion of a song running 15 to 30 seconds. It’s often the repetitive “hook” of a song, or that infectious chorus you can belt out without even thinking about the words.
Your brain’s storage and operating system — and particularly something known as the phonological loop — creates an ideal environment for an earworm to boogie-woogie all over your grey matter.
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The phonological loop connects your auditory cortex — the part of your brain responsible for processing sounds — to other areas of your brain that deal with memory and emotions.
“There are a lot of complexities as to why earworms happen, but there’s typically a trigger that connects a song to a memory or emotion,” explains Dr. Prewitt. “Next thing you know, it’s playing in your head.”
It doesn’t take much to get a concert started in your cranium either. Hearing a certain word or sound might do it. Ditto for seeing a picture or tasting something that takes you back to a certain time and place in your memories.
But to be honest, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what unleashes an earworm: “It really doesn’t take much to get it going,” says Dr. Prewitt.
Absolutely! Songs tend to be stickier with:
Examples include tunes like “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga and “We Will Rock You” by Queen.
Earworms are extremely common, with nearly 90% of people in one study saying they experience them at least once a week. But certain traits or conditions can make you more likely to queue up an internal song. The list includes:
So, what can you do to evict an earworm? Here are a few things to try:
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And if all else fails, just wait. Earworms don’t last forever, even if they feel like they do!
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