Why do songs get stuck in our head?

You can't stop it. You wish you could. You want to. And yet...it just keeps playing. Over and over and over again. The same repetitive song.

Ever wonder why that jingle won't stop replaying? I had a really neat class called Sensation and Perception at Pitt last spring that got me thinking about a few questions like this and more.

It seems research shows that the repetitive part has a lot to do with it in more ways than one.

Our brains naturally gravitate to patterns. In fact, our brains tend to fill in missing pieces of patterns, and glean comfort from repeating familiar jingles over, and over, and over again. In fact, advertisers and musicians sometimes take advantage of this knowledge by deliberately creating songs with distinctive patterns.

This technique can backfire though. How many times have you just plain become sick and tired of a song? Or worse, how often do you remember the jingle, but have no idea what the advertisement was for? For example, how many of us really remember which restaurant that "I want my baby back ribs" tune plugged? And yet the tune lives on. Hint: Is it cold in here? Answer at the end of this post, lol.

Just call those annoying jingles "Comfort food for our brains", lol.

James Kellaris, a consumer psychologist at the University of Cincinnati says,

"Having a song, tune, or commercial jingle stuck in one's head is a phenomenon known as having an earworm. Most people have had an earworm at one time. The experience is harmless and unrelated to both obsessive-compulsive disorder and endomusia, the hearing of music that is not really there. Certain songs—simple, repetitive, or oddly incongruous—have properties that act as mental mosquito bites in that they produce a cognitive "itch." The condition also arises when people struggle to remember forgotten lyrics or how a song ends. To scratch a cognitive itch, the brain repeats the song, which then traps the hapless victim in a repeated cycle of itching and scratching. Everyone has his or her own list of demon tunes that haunt. Earworms occur more often among women, musicians, and individuals who tend to worry. Earworms also vary across situations, striking when people are tired or under stress. How can you make an earworm go away? Thinking of something else or actually listening to the song in question are thought to help, but there is presently no research evidence showing what works best. Fortunately, most episodes eventually dissipate on their own."

Personally, I've found that bringing the jingle to the front of my thoughts, or in other words, placing it deliberately in my conscious thoughts, can help. Once I bring the song to a conscious level in my thoughts and actively think about it, letting it play out naturally, I give the tune an ending. I literally add a definite musical ending to the version in my head, whether it's a drum beat, or whatever, it's a definite musical end to the song. I focus on the ending, and then listen to the momentary silence in my head, noting consciously that the song has indeed ended. I then pull my thoughts to other topics that I want to focus on, and move forward, consciously giving closure to jingle now laying peacefully at rest, and focusing on new thoughts.

This isn't always easy. Once in a while, when I'm rushed, or distracted, it will take me a couple of tries, but when I focus and get it right, it works beautifully for me.

Take control of your brain, lol. You can do it.

For more information on this subject and others, check out Discover magazine. It's a really cool place to explore and learn.

Have a great day!

Lee


Question of the day: Which restaurant did the jingle "I want my baby back ribs" jingle plug?
Answer: Chili's

From Wikipedia:
The song was written by Guy Bommarito and produced by Tom Faulkner for GSD&M Advertising of Austin, Texas.

Advertising Age magazine named the song first on its list of "10 songs most likely to get stuck in your head" in 2004.[4]