Ever heard a song and seems like it has got stuck in your head for ages? Recently, psychologists claim that they have found the explanation to this phenomenon called involuntary musical imagery (INMI) or commonly known as "earworms" and as to why these certain songs would stay in our heads longer than the others.
In one of her statements reported by CBS News, study lead author Kelly Jakubowski, PhD. of Durham University in the U.K. said that these "earworms" are extremely known cases and examples of spontaneous cognition. Jakubowski has also added that especially in their line of work, it has already been a common notion for a person to spend up to 40 percent of his entire day in engaging himself in some activities that promote spontaneous cognition.
Psychologists are allegedly beginning to understand why a person's brain spend so much time thinking about thoughts which are found to be unrelated to his present situation and as to how these thoughts could be beneficial.
On the other hand, International Business Times has recently revealed that although Jakubowski's study was not able to discuss the analysis of how the song lyrics might affect its catchiness, she explains that it's definitely something she considers doing in the future.
Experts claim that some of the primarily common earworms include the songs "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, "Don't Stop Believing" by the band Journey and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" by Kylie Minogue.
Previous studies conducted have also revealed that a person is likely seen to be prone to "earworms" if they are constantly exposed to music, and certain personalities. Examples of these personality traits are obsessive-compulsive or neurotic tendencies which are found to contribute a lot to get songs stuck in a person's head.
In the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, a study that has been published last year, recommends that a simple way to disrupt the voluntary memory recollection of such songs is to chew a piece of gum.
