Earworm
Encyclopedia
Earworm, a loan translation
of the German
Ohrwurm, is a portion of a song
or other music that repeats
compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head."
Use of the English translation was popularized by James Kellaris, a marketing researcher at the University of Cincinnati, and American cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin
. Kellaris' studies demonstrated that different people have varying susceptibilities to earworms, but that almost everybody has been afflicted with one at some time or another.
Theodor Reik
used the term haunting melody to describe the psychodynamic features of the phenomenon. The term Musical Imagery Repetition (MIR) was suggested by neuroscientist and pianist Sean Bennett in 2003 in a scientifically researched profile of the phenomenon. Another scientific term for the phenomenon, involuntary
musical imagery, or INMI, was suggested by the neurologist Oliver Sacks
in 2007.
The Official Earworm Synonym List includes alternative terms such as "music meme", "humsickness", "repetunitis", "headsong", "obsessive musical thought", "music virus", and "tune wedgy."
"Last Song Syndrome" (also known as LSS) is most widely known as a Filipino term.
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.
" (also known as "Punch, Brothers, Punch") is about an earworm 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.
In Fritz Leiber
's Hugo Award
-nominated short story "Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee" (1959), the title describes an earworm so powerful that it rapidly spreads to, and takes over, all areas of human culture, until a counter-rhythm is developed which acts as an antidote.
In an episode 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 the worm 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.
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
of the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Ohrwurm, is a portion of a song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
or other music that repeats
Repetition (music)
Repetition is important in music, where sounds or sequences are often repeated. One often stated idea is that repetition should be in balance with the initial statements and variations in a piece. It may be called restatement, such as the restatement of a theme...
compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head."
Use of the English translation was popularized by James Kellaris, a marketing researcher at the University of Cincinnati, and American cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin
Professor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...
. Kellaris' studies demonstrated that different people have varying susceptibilities to earworms, but that almost everybody has been afflicted with one at some time or another.
Other terms
The psychoanalystPsychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
Theodor Reik
Theodor Reik
Theodor Reik was a prominent psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria. Reik received a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912. His dissertation, a study of Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony, was the first psychoanalytic...
used the term haunting melody to describe the psychodynamic features of the phenomenon. The term Musical Imagery Repetition (MIR) was suggested by neuroscientist and pianist Sean Bennett in 2003 in a scientifically researched profile of the phenomenon. Another scientific term for the phenomenon, involuntary
Involuntary
Involuntary is the antonym of voluntary. An involuntary action is one that occurs without volition or will; see volition and will . Involuntary may also refer to:*Involuntary , a 2008 Swedish film by Ruben Östlund...
musical imagery, or INMI, was suggested by the neurologist Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
in 2007.
The Official Earworm Synonym List includes alternative terms such as "music meme", "humsickness", "repetunitis", "headsong", "obsessive musical thought", "music virus", and "tune wedgy."
"Last Song Syndrome" (also known as LSS) is most widely known as a Filipino term.
Scientific research
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.People with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
(OCD) are more likely to report being troubled by ear worms – in some cases, medications for OCD can minimize the effects.
In popular culture
Mark Twain's 1876 story "A Literary NightmareA Literary Nightmare
"A Literary Nightmare" is a short story written by Mark Twain in 1876. The story is about Twain's encounter with a virus-like jingle, and how it occupies his mind for several days until he manages to "infect" another person, thus removing the jingle from his mind...
" (also known as "Punch, Brothers, Punch") is about an earworm which you can get rid of only by transferring it to another person.
In Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books...
's 1953 novel, "The Demolished Man
The Demolished Man
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester, is a science fiction novel that was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. The story was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction, followed by publication of the novel in 1953. The novel is dedicated to...
", 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
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
'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.
In Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber, Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theatre and films, playwright, expert chess player and a champion fencer. Possibly his greatest chess accomplishment was winning clear first in the 1958 Santa Monica Open.. With...
's Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
-nominated short story "Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee" (1959), the title describes an earworm so powerful that it rapidly spreads to, and takes over, all areas of human culture, until a counter-rhythm is developed which acts as an antidote.
In an episode of Spongebob Squarepants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
, Spongebob has a song stuck in his head that interrupts his day until Sandy Cheeks
Sandy Cheeks
Sandra Olivia "Sandy" Cheeks is a character in the series SpongeBob SquarePants and is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence. She is a squirrel native to Texas, and the fact of her being a land animal is often pointed out. She is friends with Patrick, Squidward, and SpongeBob.-Personality:Sandy is SpongeBob &...
tries to find a way to get the worm 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
Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates's disastrous and nearly fatal climb of the 6,344-metre Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985....
, 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
Siula Grande
Siula Grande is a mountain in the Cordillera Huayhuash, in the Peruvian Andes. It is 6344 m high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, 6260 m high.-Touching the Void ascent:In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates...
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.
In language learning
Earworm-type music is sometimes used in language learning to help memory retention on foreign words.See also
- Auditory imageryAuditory imageryIn psychology and neuropsychology, auditory imagery is the subjective experience of hearing in the absence of auditory stimulation. It occurs when one mentally rehearses telephone numbers, or has a song "on the brain": the phenomenon is usually defined to be spontaneous ; it can be distressing...
- Phonological loop
- MemeMemeA meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
- Tetris effectTetris effectThe Tetris effect occurs when people devote sufficient time and attention to an activity that it begins to overshadow their thoughts, mental images, and dreams...
- Hook (music)Hook (music)A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
- Musicophilia
- Earworm (Episode)
External links
- "Can't get it out of my head" by Vadim Prokhorov (22 June 2006). Guardian.co.ukThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "World of INMI research" by Lassi A. Liikkanen (retrieved 27 August 2009)
- Earwurm.com. A tool for online sharing of earworms.
- Jeremy Dean (2010, May). "Earworms: Can They Be Killed?" PsyBlog.
- Earwormsmobile.com. Using earworms to learn a foreign language
- Earworms in TV and pop culture at TV Tropes.com