Got a Song Stuck in Your Head? That’s an Earworm!
New study suggests earworms are unique musical memories & most people are on pitch when they sing back the song!
What is an earworm?
Let’s start, what is an earworm? An earworm is a piece of music that’s catchy and continues to play on repeat in your mind after the actual song has stopped playing. So, when someone says that they have a song “stuck in their head,” that song is an earworm.
Why do we get earworms?
There have been plenty of studies done on what causes earworms, what’s going on in our brains that makes this phenomenon occur and why we can’t shake them loose! Most studies indicate that the frequency with which we hear a song, the emotions that songs evoke and how repetitive the song is contributes to getting an earworm.
How do earworms influence musical memory?
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, recently studied how earworms can influence musical memory. The results were enlightening and encouraging for anyone interested in pursuing music as a career or hobby, (or just those of us who love singing in the car!)
The researchers asked a sampling of 30 college students to record themselves on their phones singing the earworm when it occurred. Turns out, the students’ ability to accurately match the pitch of the original song was quite accurate.
In fact, according to an article posted on the University’s website, “44.7% of recordings had a pitch error of 0 semitones, and 68.9 % were accurate within 1 semitone of the original song.” What this is saying is that the earworms “did in fact very strongly follow the key of the original song,” which suggests
“there may be something unique about musical memories and the ways they are encoded and maintained inside our brains.”
One of the researchers, Cognitive Psychology Ph. D candidate, Matt Evans, was noted in the article as saying that he
“hopes the current findings will also help more people have the confidence to participate in music.”
The study indicates that a “surprisingly large portion of the population has a type of automatic, hidden ‘perfect pitch’ ability.”
What is ‘perfect pitch’ or ‘absolute pitch’?
So, both terms mean the same thing. Perfect pitch is a more casually used term, and absolute pitch is a scientific term used in research pertaining to auditory perception. But the ability is the same, which is to be able to identify a note by name after it is played out loud (without seeing the instrument on which it was played) and without reference to another note. It also refers to a singer’s ability to sing a given note on command.
In a deeper dive, the website Study Finds notes that the research suggests that “absolute pitch, far from being a rare talent, might be a latent ability in many of us – one that surfaces spontaneously in our idle musical thoughts. The study notes that not everyone can name a note or sing out specific pitches on demand. It implies that our brains are working accurately at remembering pitch information.
This could change how we think about musical memory and perception and might even have implications for music education and therapy.” True perfect pitch is uncommon, like 1 in 10,000 people – but this untapped ability of our memory for pitch is more common.
So, the next time a song is stuck in your head, record yourself! Tap into that secret talent and explore singing lessons at Bach to Rock!
Sources:
Arteaga Soergel, Allison. “Singing from memory unlocks a surprisingly common musical superpower.” University of California, Santa Cruz, 14 Aug. 2024, https://news.ucsc.edu/2024/08/earworms-music-memory-perfect-pitch.html
Evans, M.G., Gaeta, P. & Davidenko, N. Absolute pitch in involuntary musical imagery. Atten Percept Psychophys (2024). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-024-02936-0
Fink, Steve. “Annoying earworms can actually make you a great singer.” Study Finds, 15 Aug. 2024, https://studyfinds.org/earworms-songs-better-singer