Earworm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Earworm may also refer to the Helicoverpa zea (corn earworm) or the musician DJ Earworm.
Earworm, a loan translation of the German Ohrwurm,[1] 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 and 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.[2] The psychoanalyst Theodor Reik used the term haunting melody to describe the psychodynamic features of the phenomenon.[3] Another scientific term for the phenomenon, involuntary musical imagery, or INMI, was suggested by the neurologist Oliver Sacks in 2007.[4]
Wanted Words, a feature on CBC Radio One's This Morning hosted by Jane Farrow, also once asked listeners to invent a word for this phenomenon. Submitted entries included "aneurhythm" and "humbug."[5]
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.[6]
Earworms should not be confused with endomusia, a serious affliction, through which a sufferer actually hears music that is not playing externally.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Untranslatable Words, The Whole Earth Review by Howard Rheingold, 1987
- ^ James J. Kellaris, "Identifying Properties of Tunes That Get ‘Stuck in Your Head", Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology, Winter 2001 Conference, Scottsdale, AZ, American Psychological Society, pp. 66-67
- ^ Reik, Theodor (1960): The Haunting Melody: Psychoanalytic Experiences in Life and Music. [1953]. Grove Press, New York.
- ^ Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, New York: Alfred A. Knopf (October 16, 2007), ISBN 1400040817
- ^ Deb Calderon and Ken Bellemare, Wizbangers: 101 Quick Action Based Learning Activities, Trafford Publishing, 2005 ISBN 1412052815
- ^ Daniel J. Levitin, This is your brain on music, Dutton Adult (August 3, 2006), ISBN 0525949690
[edit] External links
- "Can't get it out of my head" by Vadim Prokhorov (22 June 2006). Guardian.co.uk
- "World of INMI research" by Lassi A. Liikkanen (retrieved 27 August 2009)
