Have a song stuck in your head?

[Strider]

http://www.uc.edu/news/kellaris.htm

Songs That Cause The Brain To 'Itch': UC Professor
Investigating Why Certain Tunes Get Stuck In Our Heads
Date: April 4, 2001
By: Carey Hoffman
Phone: (513) 556-1825
Archive: Research News

Warning! The song titles below this line may be hazardous to your sanity:

# "It's A Small World After All"

# "We Will Rock You"

# "The Macarena"

# "Whomp - There It Is"

# "The Theme from Gilligan's Island"

What do these disparate works have in common? They were cited by respondents in a study of tunes that get "stuck in your head." Determining why such songs have that ability is the goal of James J. Kellaris, an associate professor of marketing in the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration.

UC associate professor of marketing James J. Kellaris

Having songs "stuck in your head" happens to nearly all of us. Ninety-nine percent of study respondents said they have experienced the phenomenon. Almost 50 percent say that it occurs frequently.

Kellaris, an expert on the influences of music on consumers, reported preliminary results on his work last month at the Society for Consumer Psychology's winter conference. He has a sample of 1,000 respondents to work with in analyzing his theory that certain songs create a sort of "cognitive itch" - the mental equivalent of an itchy back.

"It is like the familiar pattern of itching and scratching," Kellaris says. "The only way to 'scratch' a cognitive itch is to rehearse the responsible tune mentally. The process may start involuntarily, as the brain detects an incongruity or something 'exceptional' in the musical stimulus. The ensuing mental repetition may exacerbate the 'itch,' such that the mental rehearsal becomes largely involuntary, and the individual feels trapped in a cycle or feedback loop."

Kellaris' research seeks to identify characteristics of music that make them memorable. His preliminary work points in three directions he believes play a role:

# Repetition: One theme song that respondents reported as getting stuck in their heads often was "Mission: Impossible." Kellaris was not surprised. "A repeated phrase, motif or sequence might be suggestive of the very act of repetition itself, such that the brain echoes the pattern automatically as the musical information is processed," he says.

# Musical simplicity: Simpler songs appear more likely to make your brain itch. Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of getting Barney's "I Love You, You Love Me" song stuck can attest to that. Generally, children's songs are more prone to getting stuck than classical music, Kellaris says.

# Incongruity: When a song does something unexpected, it can also spark a cognitive itch. Examples include the irregular time signatures of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" or the song "America" from West Side Story. Unpredictable melodic patterns or an unexpectedly articulated individual note can have the same impact.

Kellaris is now taking an in-depth look at the survey data he has collected. Of the 1,000 respondents, the kind of music respondents said they got stuck on most recently were songs with lyrics for 73.7 percent, jingles or ads for 18.6 percent and an instrumental tune for 7.7 percent.

But, there's hope. Respondents also reported on the strategies they use to try and rid themselves of stuck tunes. Individual responses ranged from direct approaches like "trying to get busy doing something else" or "reading out loud" to acts of humorous desperation, such as "trying to give the 'tune kooties' to someone else, like (playing) tag, you're it!"

"This research is expected to provide creative guidelines to advertisers that wish to increase the memorability of their ads," says Kellaris. "It should also yield insights concerning the operation of human memory."

I remember back in middle school having "Yellow Submarine" stuck in my head for weeks. To this day I still can not listen to that song. It's an interesting study, but possibly more important than it seems at first glance. The 3 main points listed in the article are basically the same thing(s) that are required to memorize something.

Repetition - How many times do you repeat a phone number in your head over and over again? It's a time proven method of memorizing something.

Simplicity - Of course, it's a hell of a lot easier to remember something if it's short and simple.

Difference (for lack of a better word) - We have a knack, at least in my experience, for remembering the odd. After all, how many people can remember a good number of completely useless "facts" that you find online?

Unluckily, the article doesn't include a sure-fire way of getting lyrics OUT of your head. That would have been a vastly more useful bit of information, but regardless it's interesting. Especially how our brain seems to sub-consciously remember things for us (whether we'd like it to or not).

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I pretty much always have a song running through my head, every waking moment.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Here's an awesome video on the subject

 

[C~G]

# Repetition: One theme song that respondents reported as getting stuck in their heads often was "Mission: Impossible." Kellaris was not surprised. "A repeated phrase, motif or sequence might be suggestive of the very act of repetition itself, such that the brain echoes the pattern automatically as the musical information is processed," he says.

No, wonder it has maybe the best bassline ever.

I have that ringing in my head quite often.
The Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen version that is.

There are of course also other such songs.

 

[REDY]

I have always...its dangerous?

My add(Listen only at one's own risk):
Wham-Last Christmas
Aqua-Barbie girl
Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries)

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I have had at one point or another most of the songs I have ever heard. Crazy Train right now, which is good as it is usually not even a song I like. Changes based on external stimuli.

 

[REDY]

Or from Hair song Donna))

 

[Mirc]

I've almost always had a song stuck in my head.

Luckily when I get tired of a song, I just play another one that sticks into the memory. For example I had a piece, by Antonio Ruiz-Pipo, called Danza, that is INCREDIBLY hard to stop from taking over your mind.

 

[Furiey]

I have a couple I get stuck, one is the Muppet Show theme, the other is Horny by Moose T. The latter is particularly embarrasing when I start to sing it out loud in the supermarket or the office...

 

[Godwynn]

The ones that get stuck in my head are the ones that I hate and piss me off.

Right now I have Ridin' Dirty in my head.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

The ones that get stuck in my head are the ones that I hate and piss me off.

I remember when i had a Paris Hilton song stuck in my head. My GOD :suicide:

But i also get good songs stuck in my head. Usually it's neutral songs tho.

 

[Leonel]

I tend to get the songs that are featured in the Guitar Hero series stuck in my head.

 

[Nylan]

I too always have a song stuck in my head. Currently, it is Supertramp's Breakfast In America. I think it's a subconscious effort to blot out the cover...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I pretty much always have a song running through my head, every waking moment.

I'm the same way. I tend to sing whatever song is in my head, though. Humming it at the very least.

 

[Catharsis]

Who was it that posted the thread with the Hitler rap video? Jubnub or Revolutionary, one of the two... I've still got that song stuck in my head. Quite possibly the worst song to get stuck in your head, that one.

 

[El_Machinae]

I've learned that I'm more likely to get a song stuck in my head if I was listening to it, but didn't hear the ending. For example, shutting off the car radio partway through a song I know might have me whistling a toon for hours.

 

[C~G]

I've learned that I'm more likely to get a song stuck in my head if I was listening to it, but didn't hear the ending. For example, shutting off the car radio partway through a song I know might have me whistling a toon for hours.

I know what you mean by that.

There's this video that I have spotted only few moments on MTV (because of hurry) and I never seen what is the song or the band's name.

I cannot even remember the lyrics but the video is probably new and portraits at the point I saw it someone walking on close to harbour and this guy signs in front of microphone in some building with really deep voice. I don't even do I like the song since I haven't heard it fully but it is stuck until I get to know what it is.

 

[El_Machinae]

Crap, I mean 'tune', not 'toon'

 

[The Yankee]

Warning! The song titles below this line may be hazardous to your sanity:
# "Whomp - There It Is"

I knew it.

I get it sometimes, but not every waking moment. Therefore, I have reason to believe the threats to whatever sanity I may have left stem from other sources.

 

[The Yankee]

Right now I have Ridin' Dirty in my head.

Great, now I have it too.......thanks a lot!

I did have some times when I had music from Jesus Christ Superstar stuck in my head.