<h1>Earworm Project</h1>
<h2>Why do tunes get stuck in our heads?</h2>
<p><strong>The Music, Mind and Brain group is currently running a number
of projects examining the nature of earworms. We are funded by the
British Academy and our projects run in partnership with 6Music (BBC
Radio).</strong></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<h4>LINK TO <a title="Home of the earworm project questionnaire" href="http://earwormery.com/">EARWORMERY.COM</a> - The home of our original project questionnaire. Please fill in only once - then pass it on!<br></h4>
<h4>LINK TO <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/shaun-keaveny/form/earworms/">QUICK EARWORM FORM</a> - use this to report as many earworm experiences as you like.<br></h4>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<p><strong><br></strong></p>
<h2>What are '<em>earworms'</em>? </h2>
<p>The term <em>earworm</em> originally comes from a translation of the
German word 'Ohrwurm'. It refers to the experience of having a tune or a
part of a tune stuck in your head. Often a person experiencing an
earworm has no idea why a tune has popped into their head and has little
control over how long it continues. Earworms are a really common
phenomenon: A recent poll suggested over<strong> 90% </strong>of the
population experience them at least once a week, so it seems like having
the odd earworm is perfectly normal. But 15% of people classified their
earworms as "disturbing" <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a> and in a different study one third of the people described their earworms as "unpleasant" <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a>
- This means that although earworms are essentially harmless they can
get in the way of what you are trying to do and can stop you from
thinking straight.<br>
<br>Despite the prevalent nature of earworms and the potential impact
they can have on our normal thought processes very little is known about
what causes earworms, why they happen to some people more than others
and why some tunes are more commonly heard as an earworm than others.<strong>This is where our research comes in!</strong></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><strong></strong></p>
<h3><strong>Our Projects</strong>
<br></h3>
<ul><li><strong>Project 1: What features do typical earworm music tunes have in common?</strong> - Are some tunes naturally more 'sticky'?</li></ul>
<p><em><strong>NEWS!</strong> We </em>have completed the first run of
this project using over 1000 reports of earworm tunes. We used
computational methods to analyse the structure of the tunes that were
reported as earworms and then compared these tunes to 'control songs' to
see which parts of the musical structure make a tune more 'sticky'. Our
model is continuing to grow and develop in strength as we get more and
more reports. To keep you updated, we can tell you that the current
model can predict whether a tune has the potential to be an earworm with
over 80% success. We are currently re-analysing our dataset to update
our model and very soon we will have our first paper on this subject.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<ul><li><strong>Project 2: What do people who frequently experience earworms have in common? - </strong>Are musicians or music lovers more vulnerable? What about people with different personality types?</li></ul>
<p><em><strong>NEWS! </strong>We </em>have completed the first run of
this project using nearly 2000 reports of earworm tunes. We used
statistical techniques to determine whether certain types of people were
more likely to experience earworms. To keep
you updated, we have found some fascinating relationships between
personality and earworms.Our first paper on this subject has been
submitted for publication and we hope to provide further details soon.</p>
<p><br></p>
<ul><li><strong>Project 3: What causes earworms? - </strong>Are some situations more 'high risk'? Can earworms have a purpose? </li></ul>
<p><strong><em>NEWS! </em></strong>- We have completed their analyses of over 3000 earworm reports provided by the general public using our <a href="http://earwormery.com/">questionnaire</a>
and 6 Music contacts. To summarise, the results of this analysis have
shown that while the music in our environment has an effect on our
earworm experiences, especially when we hear music repeatedly and
outside of our control, this is not the only factor that leads to
spontaneous musical imagery. The reports we have received highlighted
the importance of spreading activation in memory (both personal memory
and memory for simple knowledge and facts), as well as the effects of
mood and attention states on the type of music that we hear in our
heads.</p>
<p>Our paper on this project is now published!! You can find it in the <a href="http://pom.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/09/17/0305735611418553.abstract">Psychology of Music Online first.</a> Please contact <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/victoria-williamson/">Vicky Williamson</a> if you would like a copy. <br>
</p>
<p><br></p>
<ul><li><strong>Project 4: What cures earworms? - </strong>We are
currently building a database of 'earworm cures', supplied by kind
members of the public. Have you worked out a way to control your
earworms? Have you worked out a trick for silencing the stuck tune? Do
you know of a melody or sound that you can play or imagine that knocks
out an earworm without itself getting stuck? If the answer to any of
these questions is 'yes' then we would love to hear from you!<br></li></ul>
<p>Please email: earwormcures - at- <a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a></p>
<p><br></p>
<h3><strong></strong></h3>
<h3><strong>'How can I get involved?'... </strong></h3>
<p>…By telling us about you and your earworm experiences at <a title="Central earwormery.com website" href="http://earwormery.com/">http://earwormery.com/</a> . In addition, anytime that you notice an earworm you can fill in our short report form which is hosted by 6Music <a title="Short report form for earworms at 6Music" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/shaun-keaveny/form/earworms/">here</a>- the more the merrier!</p>
<h3><strong></strong></h3>
<h3><br></h3>
<h3><strong>The Research Team at Goldsmiths</strong></h3>
<p><a title="Sebastian Finkel's
blog" href="http://brainformusic.tumblr.com/">Sebastian Finkel</a></p>
<p>Georgia Floridou<br></p>
<p><a title="Josh Fry's Blog" href="http://joshuafry.tumblr.com/">Josh Fry</a></p>
<p>Rhiannon Jones</p>
<p><a href="http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/%7Emas03dm/">Daniel Müllensiefen</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/stewart/">Lauren Stewart</a></p>
<p>Mike Wammes<br></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/victoria-williamson/">Vicky Williamson </a></p>
<p>Please visit Vicky Williamson's <a title="Blog on music psychology" href="http://musicpsychology.co.uk/">blog on music psychology</a>
<a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/victoria-williamson/"><br></a></p>
<h4><strong></strong></h4>
<h4><strong>Contact: </strong>Any questions and comments can be directed to us at: <a href="mailto:musicallistening@gmail.com">earwormery@gmail.com</a> <br></h4>
<h3><br></h3>
<h3><strong>External Links</strong></h3>
<p>Recent Interview on Radio 4 (Begins 7m into recording): <a title="Material World show featuring earworms" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t2xct#synopsis">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t2xct#synopsis</a>
</p>
<p>Earworm Paper 1 (Project 3) on the <a href="http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-triggers-earworm-song-thats-stuck.html">British Psychological Society Blog:</a> </p>
<p>The birthplace of our earworm hunt:<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/shaun_keaveny/">http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/shaun_keaveny/ </a></p>
<p>The video where the 6 Music team got Vicky in a white coat!: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SkxXzitCuU" title="6 Music and Vicky You Tube Video">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SkxXzitCuU</a>
<br></p>
<p>The British Academy: <a title="Link to the British Academy" href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/">http://www.britac.ac.uk/ </a>
<br></p>
<p>Tell us your earworm on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=earworms">http://twitter.com/search?q=earworms</a> (#earworm)</p>
<p>Visit our Facebook page: <a href="http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Music-Mind-Brain-Goldsmiths/10150121042135716">http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Music-Mind-Brain-Goldsmiths/10150121042135716</a> </p>
<p>Learn more about our research group: <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/">http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Learn about our Masters in Music, Mind and Brain: <a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/msc-music-mind-brain/">http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/msc-music-mind-brain/</a></p>
<p><br></p>
<h4>References</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> Liikkanen L.A. (2008) Music in everymind: Commonality of involuntary musical imagery. <em>Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition</em>. Sapporo, Japan.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Beaman, C. P., & Williams, T. I. (2010) Earworms ("stuck song syndrome"): Towards a natural history of intrusive thoughts. <em>British Journal of Psychology, </em>
101(4),
637-653.</p>
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