Why do we get earworms? | Hacker News Reader

Why do we get earworms?

theneuroscienceofeverydaylife.substack.com

34 pointslentoutcry50 comments

Like most pieces of neuroscience writing that frame a "why" question ("Why we sleep", "why we get earworms", "why we like beaches") - the question is literally never answered in the article/book, and the explanations given are things that an 8 year old child could produce. This is, of course, because we have no idea how the brain works to create the complex experiences that we are so familiar with.

Almost all of the explanations here boil down to descriptions of the earworms themselves, rather than an answer to WHY we get them. There are some things about short term memory and the "phonological loop" peppered in to make it sound scientific, but again those just boil down to "it's a short melody that you can hold in your memory". But of course, even after all this, none of these things are actually explanations at all! They are post hoc observations masquerading as explanations, like trying to explain "why" birds migrate by describing how long they fly, and what direction they fly in.

For a moment I thought I was reading the companion article to «I let Claude Code write an entire book»

As a producer lemme tell you i can create some pretty bad melodies than get stuck in my head cuz I heard em too many times. I'm not sure how well earworms can be dissected beyond music theory.

I also had a therapist suggest that the music stuck in my head(smth is going almost always) reflected my mental state. There could be some truth but also think this overplays a psychological connection. Sometimes I just listened to "hold the line" and it gets stuck. I'm not actually strugglin'.

hold the line is an amazing song tho

Oh totally. It just gets stuck in there a lot, first that came to mind.

This is probably my biggest pet peeve in all of pop-science. It often feels like the _vast_ majority of pop-science explanations fall into this category of non-explanation. Watching popular TV shows (say, QI in the UK) about scientific or knowledge based topics can be a real drag if you're actually a highly curious person.

The answer to "why?" is really just "Evolution". It's not satisfying at all, but for example sleep could have been an evolutionary accident that happened to have enough upsides and little enough downsides that it persisted.

As such, it could really be like the article described that it's kinda of a mis-feature of some other neurological mechanism, and the downsides weren't big enough to be selected against.

There may also be an upside, I recently came across a study that claimed that participants that had a song stuck in their head for a longer time were more likely to hit the correct pitch when singing it. Not sure how that would translate to selective advantage though, if at all...

Living things that are good at predicting things don't die as much. There's a good reason why our auditory system is always on, even when we sleep. I suspect the reason for something like an 'earworm' is a system that's eager to predict sounds from the environment.

It's probably better to have a slightly overeager prediction system which sometimes gives false positives than one that isn't as active, because false negatives could lead to your death. That includes things like noticing that birds suddenly stopped singing. Maybe it's nothing, but you can see the use of a subconscious background process that has is eagerly making predictions that would then have an error, that could potentially save your life.

Thinking Fast and Slow has a wonderful example of the veteran firefighter who knew to order people out and then later realised that it was his ears feeling unusually warm (that was the clue to the hidden fire under the floor) that made the area unsafe.

If there are alien life forms out there, I would expect them to have evolved similar systems.

This makes sense, I never thought about it this way.

When I was a parent of a newborn I was shocked at how good my hearing for a fidgeting baby became.

Then I realized I was also getting a number of false positives, and eventually I noticed that I felt a sort of constant tax of, well, the kid was just always on my mind. Just always some sort of background simulation of what might be going on in the other room, not at the forefront but almost always running.

So any little noise would quickly fit some imagined scenario involving the kid, and I'd be on my way to her as soon as she woke up and made the smallest noise - or any time the house creaked.

I find it impossible to properly follow two dissimilar tunes at the same time, or to imagine one tune while physically hearing another. So my trick for banishing earworms is to find something else to physically listen to, and then actively engage with trying to sustain the earworm. Lean into it, try to imagine the earworm in full detail, while the ears are telling the brain "hey, process this"

It usually does the trick. I think that trying to engage the earworm activates certain neurons that sustain it, but the imperative of actual sensory input competing for those same neurons disrupts the pattern that's gotten stuck. YMMV

Incidentally, one of the things that flagged for my doctor before my diagnosis with Asperger's, was that I can listen to multiple songs in my head at once. Apparently it can happen a fair bit in the ADHD spectrum of the neurological rainbow. Some in my circles call it "jukeboxing".

I had a friend who would intentionally put on two different songs at the same time and claimed they enjoyed it. I always suspected it was just another way of being provocative or to stimulate creativity (they were a creative person who liked provoking others), but maybe there was more to it.

I do try not to if others are around... But I have been known to do that. Sometimes a couple songs, a TV show, and a game all going at once.

I've figured its just the sensory-seeking stuff going out of control - usually indicating I'm going a bit stir crazy and need to go for a walk.

I get music ALL the time from morning to night every day, there is only one way to turn it off and get peace and that's to get somewhat drunk

It can be the same song, but I can change it fairly easily

I'm highly likely AuDHD

I researched this awhile back they call it Default Mode Network (DMN) which it’s our brains idle mode. Some people’s DMN includes “musical thoughts”. I write music all the time and I think it might be more intense for some due to genetics (my grandparents were old time radio performers and all their kids musicians) or nurtured more by engaging with music (e.g instrument, singer, avid listener). It’s normal for many (humming). I surveyed my 30 classmates in high school class once and on the spot most said they had a song they were “thinking” about. I usually am just cutting up and repeating bits of things. Not much different than daydreaming and “visual thoughts”.

I know several people with ADHD who have several songs stuck in their had at the same time. If they try to engage with a different tune, they now have two in their head. And it goes on, up to six and sometimes even more.

Tough luck.

I will never accept the horrifying word "earworm". As an American, it's always been "stuck in my head", and I first learned "earworm" years ago as a Britsh-ism. I hope that parasite stays across the pond, but it seems like it's been gaining traction this past decade or two.

In Germany it was always Ohrwurm but reading it in English I instantly thought of parasites

"Earworm" is exactly why I went straight for the comments and didn't click on the article

“How does music affect the brain? The answer is, in lots of ways, and on multiple levels. From the most fundamental processes that recognise pure rhythm and beat, to the higher analytical regions that recognise and enjoy complexity and flow. That’s why music can so often be such a rewarding and enriching experience.”

…and this is why AI generated music sounds like shit, because the systems lack those evolved aspects of life, which coupled with emotions, create music.

I absolutely hope the AI sector is forced to pay musicians and writers for copyright infringement whilst trying to put them out of a job and devaluing the economic viability of an already repressed industry. You may disagree with this perspective - I happen to want US copyright reform to correct the overly long terms of protection Disney lobbied for - but I’d like you to present your arguments against my position in response so they can be given consideration.

Also if you’re pro AI music generation without compensation, then show me your playlist and prove to me there’s actually people in this world who listen to that shit. I’m genuinely curious how many pro-AI generated music evangelists actually turn off human music in favor of what they claim to support. Basically arguing against paying artists is a morally bankrupt straw man right now and should be set on fire at every opportunity.

I like earworms, but often I never notice myself with them. When I do notice myself having an earworm, and it becomes a little bit annoying, it's a bit like this article and I ask myself why. Lean into your earworm.

What I try to do is pay more attention to the earworm. If it's lyrics, what are the lyrics saying? (and look them up). If it's instrumental music what are the emotions? What was the time when I last heard it and how was I feeling. What is the purpose of the earworm - what message is it saying? I treat the earworm as if it was my subconscious trying to tell me something. Contemplate and listen properly to your earworm.

Often this strategy happily removes annoying earworms and sometimes it tells me some new useful information. It doesn't give me any deep insights or epiphanies just something like "oh that fun sounding song was actually sad - about a girl who lost her baby, I didn't notice now I do"

Once or twice I've noticed something strange. The earworm actually increases in volume (sometimes at a loud pub level of sound) but only due to or in response to the IRL situation that I find myself in.

As a composer, sometimes I get an earworm that is unique to me (as far as I know. I'll convert it to a saved format as quickly as possible as eventually it may be forgotten-but not always! I have earworms of my own music still since childhood). This study's really exciting especially as it seems we don't know where these come from. Maybe once it's more understood we'll be moving closer to understand creativity, given earworms are usually based on what we're already familiar with so perhaps creativity is a memory glitch on that process.

Interestingly, I can’t recall ever having an ear worm. I’d guess it’s related to my struggles with learning texts verbatim: I have very hard time learning to recite poetry, songs, etc.

Do you have auditory imagination?

I am asking because I was struggling with memory techniques like memory palaces. Turned later out I'm a visual aphantast, but I can imagine songs, chords, sounds.

Maybe it's just the way you function, and you just need to use other strategies?

I think of my memory as semantic rather than visual or auditory. I’m not sure how to explain it. No, I usually can’t play music in my head. I can imagine myself signing it though.

I don’t have bad memory, it’s specifically the task of reproducing the exact choice and order of words that trips me up.

This sounds pretty close to how my brain processes things. I too have aphantasia, so imagination/visualization is conceptual/non-visual. The way sound plays in my head is via imaginary humming or singing by me, it never sounds as if coming from some external source. I do get rare earworms, but again, it's more of a realization that I've been humming a song for a while.

No issues with memorization, however. Brains are weird.

The closed thing I have to ear worms is randomly remembering a “feeling” of a song, and then I have to put on different stuff from my library looking for that feeling while also trying not to lose the grip on the original one.

There’s a neuro-linguistic programming technique you can try to get rid of an earworm.

Picture a radio playing the song and imagine yourself slowly turning down the volume and the song getting quieter until it has gone.

This used to work for me but over time I’ve had to extend it with imagining switching the radio off at the end, unplugging it, and chucking it out the window so it smashes on the ground so no chance of it turning back on!

I'll try that. The one that sometimes works for me is to sing the song very slowly in my head. Something about disrupting the tempo seems to work.

My operating hypothesis is that earworms help us maintain a specific tempo, like the old working on the railroad or singing songs while doing work together, that when we disrupt the tempo, especially slowing it down to where it won't catch other songs, then it works.

I had to google what ear worm is. English being a second language, I read the comments here first and thought you were using telepathy (essentially) to get some parasite to leave your ear.

Its rare for a song to really capture me to that extent. I dont know if its because I would just listen to entire albums on repeat or what.

I cant even mention Baby Shark without freaking out some people but I dont get it stuck in my head, I just eventually get tired of singing it with the preschooler.

And what if you can’t “picture” in your “mind’s eye” i.e. aphantasia?

I think it's the brain patting itself on the back for predicting how the song goes. Because we're prediction machines.

Just need to vent: there's a NIN song "Sin" that has a repeating effect shsha shsha shsha shsha.... I'm not conveying it clearly in text, but it's prominent in the first five seconds of the song[0] if you want to actually hear it.

Anyway, ever since a certain Lil' Jon song came out in 2009, my brain keeps trying to hear this effect in Sin as, "Shots shots shots shots shots...." It's totally inappropriate for the song, and my brain doesn't actually hear the word, but it's convinced if it keeps listening and focusing, the word will come through clearly.

It's a great illustration of the brain having a weakness for certain patterns and having confirmation bias so strong that it will literally keep looking for confirmation for years without getting it.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEWdjtMmqGo

I don’t know whether to say great comment or “damnit, I just listened to them both and now I’m doing it too.”

Maybe a bit of both. But that’s quite the thing.

> The more you try not to think about something, the more aware of it you become ... earworms ... They're ultimately a bizarre, often annoying, but invariable harmless quick of the human brain.

Harmless? The most annoying kind always come to me when I'm having a bout of migraine or a stress headache, often making them worse.

> What makes for a good earworm? Based on what research there is, the most potent earworms tend to be short, simple, and repetitive. And catchy ...

Pianist Ludovico Einaudi is famous for his minimalist tunes. No wonder most of his pieces are earworm-worthy; ex: I Giorni https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uffjii1hXzU

Came looking for a brain-eating parasite.

Left with a strange desire of lullaby recollections

I don't have an internal monologue and I can't hear anything in my head. Yet I still get earworms. I "hear" the shape of the music, get hints of timbre, and my recognition of the lyrics comes through. It's almost like the volume is really low, but I don't think that's really it. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as actually hearing it in your head, though. I sympathize for everyone else.

No one "hears things" in their head unless they are experiencing auditory hallucinations. It's just a phrase we use to describe exactly what you just outlined.

I'll occasionally hear things when falling asleep, just as I'll also see some imagery when falling asleep (I'm also unable to visualize). So I assumed the snippets of sound I would hear was what people heard normally, just as I'm assuming the snippets of imagery would match what people normally see when they visualize. The sounds I hear (infrequently) sound like something in the environment, though it's clearly not.

So now I need to rework my assumptions. Thank you for letting me know. Language is terrible for conveying this type of information.

I agree we don’t have a great way to talk about these vague terms like “minds eye” and “inner monologue”. It’s hard to tell if people are just talking past each other or actually have real differences.

As a musician, this is something I’ve thought about a lot and the conclusion I’ve come to is that music triggers our reward system just like a drug, and just like a monkey given a drug, we want to keep pushing the button to feel that reward over and over. So we play it back in our heads, which isn’t quite as good as the real thing, but is close enough. I really don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.

my strategy for getting rid of these (earworms? had never heard that term until now) is to just play the song in full, _let it finish_ and go to another song (any song). congrats it's now out of your head. you're welcome!

you can stop it by playing the song! try it honestly works .

Caribbean Queen by Billy Ocean

now you'll hear it in your head for the next month

you're welcome!

“Staying Alive” by The Bee Gees and “Another One Bites the Dust” are both at 128 bpm.

I thought Staying Alive was at 60 bpm which is why it was used for CPR.

Staying Alive is 104. Another One Bites The Dust is 110.

whoever came up with the name 'earworm' needs to be shot

I suppose that if there are any hard rules for earworms, then an AI would be able to produce them.

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