The Science Behind the Song Stuck in Your Head

A bouzouki playing researcher (the best kind) is investigating the phenomenon of "cognitive itch". You know: when a song gets completely stuck in your head.

He did extensive research on this, interviewing over 1,000 students:

"One person claimed—perhaps facetiously—that music from an Atari 260 videogame had been playing in his head since 1986."

The Germans have a great word for this : Ohrwurm (literally "earworm").

Thursday, October 11th, 2001 6:57pm

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