Do you have a Christmas earworm?

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:42 am

From “Discover Magazine”:
“Why do songs get stuck in our heads? James Kellaris, consumer psychologist at the University of Cincinnati replies:

‘Having a song, tune, or commercial jingle stuck in one’s head is a phenomenon known as having an earworm. Most people have had an earworm at one time. The experience is harmless and unrelated to both obsessive-compulsive disorder and endomusia, the hearing of music that is not really there. Certain songs – simple, repetitive, or oddly incongruous – have properties that act as mental mosquito bites in that they produce a cognitive “itch”. The condition also arises when people struggle to remember forgotten lyrics or how a song ends. To scratch a cognitive itch, the brain repeats the song, which then traps the hapless victim in a repeated cycle of itching and scratching. Everyone has his or her own list of demon tunes that haunt. Earworms occur more often among women, musicians, and individuals who tend to worry. Earworms also vary across situations, striking when people are tired or under stress. How can you make an earworm go away? Think of something else or actually listening to the song in question are thought to help, but there is presently no research evidence showing what works best. Fortunately, most episodes eventually dissipate on their own.’”

My current holiday earworms are:

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go.”
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”
“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock ……..”

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:51 am

My problem is often the opposite of this; now, how does that tune go?

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:59 am

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style..la, la, laa la laa

Well that is the current one running in my head.

MarkB

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:23 pm

There was this young lady from the audience at a pick-up gig I was doing with some friends who enthusiastically (politespeak for "beerily") asked us if we could do "Oh, Danny Boy" for her. By way of encouraging us she sang it to "Oh, Holy Night". That was in August. Talk bout Christmas earworms.

rebl_rn · Post by **rebl_rn** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:16 pm

I pretty much always have some song running through my head, and lately, yes, a lot of them have been Christmas ones. Right now, it's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (technically not really a Christmas song I suppose) because I just heard a version on the radio that was sung by Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton. Now it's stuck in my head.

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:51 pm

Doug_Tipple wrote:How can you make an earworm go away? Think of something else of actually listening to the song in question are thought to help, but there is presently no research evidence showing what works best. …..”

I suspect there's been some research done in the field of neural network processing systems. The phenomenon of self-sustaining patterns in trained neural nets is well documented - the standard way to collapse them is to train them with a similar patern that has an exit.

For instance - I once had the star wars "dearth-vader theme" pestering me - I was able to kill it with the sound of music "Spoonful of sugar" which has the same rhythm scheme, but changes the key and has a definite terminus.

I still use that hybrid as a musical joke;

dum dum dum dum-de dum dum-de dum (Dearth Vader theme)
dum dum dum dum-de dum dum-de dum

didle-dum de-de + "medicine goes down" (DV Theme with imposed lyrics - same notes)
didle diddle dum de-de "the medicine goes down"

"in the most delightful way" (DV theme completely killed)

hope that made sense

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:25 pm

All day , rolling around in my head,I've had the tenor(my) part of the Gloria we'll be attempting tomorrow night at church...et interra pax, pax hominibus..etc.

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:20 pm

greenspiderweb wrote:My problem is often the opposite of this; now, how does that tune go?

At work we had a world-famous x-ray optics guy visit us a few weeks ago. He's retired, and it turns out he's also an enthusiastic Irish fiddler. We were asking him about some things, and he said, "One thing you've got to realize is that every tune you learn drives something useful from your memory."

So, Barry, I guess you need to ask yourself whether it's more important to have useful stuff or tunes in your head.

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:16 pm

chas wrote:
greenspiderweb wrote:My problem is often the opposite of this; now, how does that tune go?
At work we had a world-famous x-ray optics guy visit us a few weeks ago. He's retired, and it turns out he's also an enthusiastic Irish fiddler. We were asking him about some things, and he said, "One thing you've got to realize is that every tune you learn drives something useful from your memory."

So, Barry, I guess you need to ask yourself whether it's more important to have useful stuff or tunes in your head.

OK, deal, I'll take the music!

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:34 pm

I keep misreading the title of this thread as "do you have a Christmas earthworm" and now I've got this mental image of a worm with a little red and green bow and a Santa hat on him stuck in my head.

Redwolf

greenspiderweb · Post by **greenspiderweb** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:44 pm

That's alright, I kept seeing the God and Geese? topic as God and Cheese?

Now, beer and cheese, that's different!

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:11 pm

Redwolf wrote:I keep misreading the title of this thread as "do you have a Christmas earthworm" and now I've got this mental image of a worm with a little red and green bow and a Santa hat on him stuck in my head.

Redwolf

Maybe this will help you visualize it even better:

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:23 pm

Oh gosh, that's cute! Is that a Christmas tree ornament?

Redwolf

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:45 pm

Redwolf wrote:Is that a Christmas tree ornament?

No, that's a Christmas hooker.

djm

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:38 pm

Redwolf wrote:Oh gosh, that's cute! Is that a Christmas tree ornament?

Redwolf

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