Earworm
Music or phrase that repeats in the mind, especially when unwanted / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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An earworm or brainworm,[1] also described as sticky music or stuck song syndrome,[2] is a catchy or memorable piece of music or saying that continuously occupies a person's mind even after it is no longer being played or spoken about.[3][4] Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI) is most common after earworms,[5][6][7][8][9] but INMI as a label is not solely restricted to earworms; musical hallucinations also fall into this category, although they are not the same thing.[6][10] Earworms are considered to be a common type of involuntary cognition.[11] Some of the phrases often used to describe earworms include "musical imagery repetition" and "involuntary musical imagery".[1][12][13]
The word earworm is a calque from the German Ohrwurm.[14][15] The earliest known English usage is in Desmond Bagley's 1978 novel Flyaway, where the author points out the German origin of his word.[16]
Researchers who have studied and written about the phenomenon include Theodor Reik,[17] Sean Bennett,[18] Oliver Sacks,[1] Daniel Levitin,[19] James Kellaris,[20] Philip Beaman,[21] Vicky Williamson,[22] Diana Deutsch,[23] and, in a more theoretical perspective, Peter Szendy,[24] along with many more. The phenomenon should be distinct from palinacousis, a rare medical condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe of the brain that results in auditory hallucinations.[25]