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Interactive: North Carolina Symphony Blog
The Care, Feeding and Eradication of Earworms
Maybe it’s the theme from “Rocky.” Maybe it’s Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Maybe, we hope not for your sake, it’s the Disney “Small World” tune. Regardless of any musical merit, we’ve all had the experience of a tune getting stuck in our heads—a phenomenon known as an “earworm.” Why does that happen and more importantly, HOW DO WE MAKE IT STOP?
Check out this New York Times piece on mental melodies for the answer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16qna.html?ref=science
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Do the musicians really hum the tune in order to eradicate earworm as prescribed in the NY Times article? It does not work for me. Comments from musicians please.
# Posted By Jacobi Daley
| 3/30/10 10:42 AM
