You are silent. Walking down the street, serving a coffee, looking distracted by the mobile. And suddenly … there is again. A melody you have not chosenbut who insists on returning. As a drop in the tap, as a notification that you cannot deactivate.
In my case, it is the same song for a couple of days. Always the same part, as if the rest did not exist. It does not bother me, but it has made me think: why does this happen? Does our brain make sense, sometimes it works like a striped disk?
What exactly a earworm. Los earworms – Also called “ear worms” – they are musical fragments that are installed in the head and repeat themselves again and again, without you chosen. The term comes from the German Ohrwurm and today describes a mental phenomenon as recognizable as it is elusive.
It is not something strange: as the National Library of Medicine of the United States collects, up to 98% of the western population has once experienced them. Most live them as a simple anecdote, but for some people they can become annoying or even distressing. We speak in a very specific way of spontaneous mental activity that science has been trying to understand.
Why do some songs stuck. Los earworms They are the result of a combination of musical and neurological factors. The themes that are most repeated usually have simple structures, fast tempos and easy to hum melodies. This was revealed by a study led by musicologist Kelly Jakubowski, who analyzed more than 3,000 songs and found that those who stayed in the head tended to have common melodic contours and a medium tempo faster than the rest.
Among the most mentioned songs such as earworms In Jakubowski’s study and his team, several Anglo -Saxon pop hits stand out. It is no accident: the work was done in the United Kingdom with English -speaking participants, so most of the topics that appear are in English. Even so, many of them have been true global successes:
- ‘Bad Romance’ – Lady Gaga
- ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ – Kylie Minogue
- ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ – Journey
- ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ – Gotye
- ‘Moves Like Jagger’ – Maroon 5
- ‘California Gurls’ – Katy Perry
- ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Queen
- ‘Alejandro’ – Lady Gaga
- ‘Poker Face’ – Lady Gaga
The decisive occurs in the brain: the auditory cortex – the same one we use to listen to real music – is reactivated even when we simply imagine a song. The emotional state also influences: stress, distraction or nostalgia can open the door for a melody to be installed without prior notice.
Auditory cortex
Some minds are more prone to loop. Not everyone lives earworms equal. Some people barely notice them, while others suffer with intensity, as if the brain stayed in a loop.
In most cases, earworms They live as a simple curiosity or even as something entertaining. But when the repetition becomes persistent and annoying, it can be a sign of something more serious. According to psychiatrist Srini Pillay, professor at Harvard’s Faculty of Medicine, “these persistent loops can be associated with obsessive-compulsive disorders, migraines, unusual epilepsies, palinacousis, stroke or cerebral metastasis.” It is not usual, but it can happen.
What to do if you don’t want to keep listening to her. There is no magic formula to eliminate a earwormbut there are strategies that help. Interestingly, trying to block the song is the least effective: the more struggles against her, the more he clings, a phenomenon described by Daniel Wegner as “ironic process.”
Instead, accepting it without resistance usually works better. As the Kennedy center collects, some people choose to listen to the complete song; Others replace it with another melody. There are specialists who point to chew gum to interfere mental repetition.
And you, what song isn’t you going from your head? Since I started investigating the earwormsthe song in my head has not disappeared. Now I know that I am not the only one, that there are reasons behind and that, deep down, that loop is part of how our brain works.
And you? Have you ever had a earworm That you couldn’t take off from the head? What was that song impossible to erase? Do you have any technique to take it off? We read you in the comments.
Images | WorldOfSoftware with Gemini 2.5 Flash | Amanz | Kennedy Center
In WorldOfSoftware | I put myself in the hands of some “sleep headphones” in the hope of reconciling sleep. It has come out regular
