Episode 28: Why songs get stuck in our heads

Why do some songs get stuck in our heads?

In this episode, our presenter Ginny Smith explores the psychology of earworms. Ginny hears about the possible evolutionary reasons for why we experience the phenomenon, learns what earworms can teach us about memory — and finds out how to get rid of them.

Our guests, in order of appearance, are Kelly Jakubowski, assistant professor of music psychology at Durham University; Petr Janata, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis; and Michael K. Scullin, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University.

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Episode credits:

Presented and produced by Ginny Smith. Mixing and editing by Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music by Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Art work by Tim Grimshaw.

Download the episode here.

Research from our guests includes:

• Dissecting an Earworm: Melodic Features and Song Popularity Predict Involuntary Musical Imagery
• Spontaneous mental replay of music improves memory for incidentally associated event knowledge.
• Bedtime Music, Involuntary Musical Imagery, and Sleep

And Kelly Jakubowski’s website has more information, including a Spotify playlist of common earworms

Further background reading from the Digest:

• Bedtime Music Can Disrupt Your Sleep By Triggering Earworms
• How to kill an earworm
• What triggers an Earworm – the song that’s stuck in your head?
• A natural history of the Earworm – the song that won’t get out of your head

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