Are You 'Infected' With A Song?

By Suparna Chakaraborthy

Thursday, May 27, 2010, 12:54

While taking shower, you listen to a song and find yourself humming it all day. Why does it happen? Here is the answer.

You are 'infected' with a song. It is called 'earworm'. Sometimes the earworm can linger on for days.

Andreane McNally-Gagnon, a PhD student, asked French-speaking Internet users to rank 100 pop songs according to their ability to be compulsively repeated within one's mind.

The test was done on 18 musicians and 18 non-musicians and they were asked to hum and record their obsessive songs and note their emotional state before and after. The research concluded that earworm infections last longer with musicians than with non-musicians.

The findings stated that this occurs to people when they are in a positive state of mind or are not engaged in anything meaningful. It can also be said that it is minds way of keeping you away from some bad memory.

This prevents one from brooding and helps in changing one's mood. Many a times you may notice that you are humming that song, without actually being aware of it. This is brains way of keeping you from memory,stress,triglyceride. A favourite song will always lighten your mood, thus keeping you from being memory,stress,triglycerideed out.

The study also revealed that auditive memory in people can accurately replicate songs. "We propose that rapid sensory plasticity in the auditory brain creates useful memories from the ever-changing, but sometimes repeating, acoustical world," says Dr Agus.