Why do you sometimes listen to

Music is an indispensable part to help us relieve our mood. But each person has his own "acoustic taste" and not every song fits everyone's ears. There are songs that make you uncomfortable, but what's worse is that your brain is constantly buzzing about it.

For Vietnamese netizens, it may not be strange that there are periods when the house opens songs such as "His wife", "Spring butterfly", "The fate" . So much that you only need to listen to one Some notes can remember the song right away. Even, even if there is no note, in your brain you mutter "being a girl . not once in love with anyone .". Such "brainless" songs have a proper noun to describe them as " earworm " . In some cases, "deep ears" are quite satisfying. But in another situation, this is an unpleasant experience.

And scientists also encounter this situation. Some spend their time doing independent research and each brings some answers. But in general, all studies share some conclusions about "deep ears". They are often heard songs (top 10 songs). They often have notes or repetitive time intervals. They also have specific rhythms and patterns of each song.

Kelly Jakubowski, a researcher from Durham University's Music Department, said: "The general conclusion about songs is that they are often quite simple to be repeated at any time, but also needed. a little bit of something that makes the brain want to "listen" again and again. "

General symptoms

Scientists occasionally describe "deep ear" as "unintentional music imaging" (INMI) . A 2012 study published in the Journal of Music Psychology found that 90% of Finnish Internet users reported having been "stuck" by a song for at least a week. The more people who love music, the more "deep ears" phenomenon they experience. Consistent with this study, an article published in the 2006 Cognitive Research Journal described in detail the experience of a pianist and composer, who almost experienced continuous INMI. This 24/7 "deep ear" condition is called "permanent music memory" (PMT).

Many people feel annoyed because they cannot be "quiet".

The pianist wrote: " I don't see anything fun when being PMT. On the contrary, it keeps me distracted continuously, something I just want to be able to turn off right away." The artist's "deep ear" aversion also spreads to the songs that touched him the most. The main reason is that the most influential songs cause distraction in real life.

However , "deep ear" aversion is often misunderstood by people about the nature of phenomena. We often only feel uncomfortable when songs we don't like hang around in the brain. The polls show that only one-third of "deep ears" cause discomfort. Jakubowski talks about the results of the investigation: "People often turn to unfair comments because we have a tendency to remember only unhappy experiences".

"Deep ears" music background

But like it or not, your brain still tends to the most recently or recently opened songs. A study in 2013 also in the Journal of Music Psychology found that the more similar songs are, the higher their chances of becoming "deep ears". Participants in the study said they didn't need to think much about melodies so they could "stick" to the brain. Anyone who is humming a song in a store or a coffee shop can attest to this.

At the 12th International Symposium on Perception and Music Perception held in Thessaloniki (Greece), the researchers realized that the longer the tracks have notes, the higher the distance between the high pitches. The shorter the chance, the higher the chance of becoming "deep ears" . Perhaps it is because of the long notes when combined with a very limited change of high pitching points that make the song easier to sing and easier to repeat.

However, Jakubowski's study, published in November 2016 in the Journal of Psychology of American Studies, Arts and Creativity, disagrees. Jakubowski did not suggest that the length of the notes and the distance of the high-pitched points were related to "deep ears". But she agrees that the easier it is to sing a song, the higher its ability to remain in the brain. Jakubowski's research is based on surveys conducted between 2010 and 2013, when comparing "deep ears" with popular songs but not considered "deep ears" . This study found that Lady Gaga is one of the singers who are able to create "deep ears" , with songs "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Poker Face" among the top 10 most "deep" songs in the country. America.

Easy-to-stick songs often have quite the same structure.

Jakubowski and his colleagues came to the conclusion that brainless " posts " are often faster at pace than others. And the "deep ears" often share the same pattern of high pitches that are common in Western music, namely the prelude begins with gradually increasing the pitch of the notes and then immediately descending. Examples include "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "Moves Like Jagger" . Jakubowski writes: " Earworms using these acoustic techniques often have very simple melody patterns."

But the most surprising thing is that apart from sharing some of the acoustic structures, the "ears" are accompanied by some unusual melody in the lyrics. For example, there are more leaps and bounds between soaring points than other tracks, commonly found in pop music, or wider spacing between points. For example, the songs are "My Sharona" by The Knack or "Intergalactic" by the Beastie Boys, the study said.

Why does the human brain remember them?

The nature of "deep ears" is so, but why are our brains stuck with them? Of course, not every individual is obsessed with music the same, but depending on the individual. For example, people who are more artistic like musicians are more likely to "review " brainless music than ordinary people. The 2012 study published in Greece found that those with subclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms were more likely to be "deep" than those who were less obsessive-compulsive (call It is subclinical because it is not yet obsessive-compulsive disorder - OCD - but has begun to tend to be anxious and withdraw from work.

And those who are "deep-eared" often because they do repetitive tasks, such as jogging or housework, housework.

The temporal lobe is responsible for turning sounds into signals that the brain "understands".

The reason why the brain has a "deep ear" condition has not been clearly explained. But an article in Nature in 2005 found that the auditory cortex - part of the temporal lobe, which is used to process sounds and turn them into nerve signals - is often triggered unconsciously when The body hears a familiar song but part of the music is interrupted. In other words, our brain has "intentionally" filled in the blank " so that the music is " heard " in its entirety (despite the fact that it has been turned off). Studies can even show the difference in the hearing portion when it "intentionally" repeats the voice of the person singing, or repeats the sound of the instruments playing in the song.

However, because the nature of "filling in the blank" is arbitrary rather than stimulating, the "deep" situation is difficult to remove, even if we deliberately do it. A "deep-eared" study in 2010 published by Neurological Journal (UK) said, when researchers asked participants about their "deep-eared" diaries, it seemed that when they tried more and more The idea of ​​eliminating the above situation is that the song becomes more and more in their brains. The reason for this is that the more we repeat something, the more time our brain will have to "remember" them. Significantly more with the "deep ears" the more people listen and like to parody them, the people who hate them are even more difficult to forget .

The "deep ear" condition is difficult to remove.

Perhaps that is why many of us want to work in a quiet environment. Because one way or another, the parody of this person's songs can very likely cause the other's brain to be "deepened" and their thinking efficiency will be significantly reduced.