Suddenly, we find ourselves whistling –if we don’t like it at all! – a reggaeton that we have heard on the radio. Calm down, let’s restart, let’s think about something else … But after two minutes, our neurons are back to dancing to their sound. This phenomenon is called an auditory worm – earworm -, and the recently deceased neurologist Oliver Sacks compared it in his book Musicofilia “to a tic or an attack”.
Once the beast is awakened with a related sound or mental association, the “neuroworm” can torture us at will for hours . Some psychologists believe that this is how the brain tries to complete an unfinished melody, and others believe that it is a way for the mind to continue working while it is idle.
Recently, the British newspaper The Guardian echoed the chilling case of a man whose worm, taking the forms of different melodies, had stayed to live in his brain . He suffered from a true musical psychosis that prevented him even from concentrating on everyday tasks .
There is no magic formula for fabricating these invaders of our minds, although the music industry tries very hard. Simple, repetitive melodies with some unexpected rhythmic pattern seem to help.
According to a study led by musicologist Alisun Pawley and psychologist Daniel Mullenstein , other key elements would be the number of sounds and nuances introduced into the chorus or the vocal efforts of the singer. His hit parade of the most infectious songs of all is chaired by We are the Champions (1977), by Queen. Have you started humming it yet?
