Unravelling the brain mechanisms of earworm experiences
The experience of having a song stuck in our head is a widespread phenomenon that nicely reflects the interaction between music and memory processes. This phenomenon is known as earworm and it is a spontaneous and self-generated thought characterized by a unique and salient looping effect of a short fragment of a melody. Previous studies indicate that earworms are commonly perceived as neutral or pleasant experiences, more prone to occur during low attentional states, and influenced by repetition and recency effects. However, the brain mechanisms underlying earworms still remain unknown. Accordingly, 100 participants underwent a novel fMRI paradigm to explore the neural basis for earworm experiences. The task consisted of two stages: earworm induction and mind-wandering. In the induction phase, participants listened five times to one of three song fragments previously identified as highly likely to induce earworms (e.g. Despacito, Ay mamá, As it was). In the second stage, participants mind-wandered for 25 minutes and were instructed to report their spontaneous thoughts by pressing a button corresponding to the type of thought they were experiencing (temporal thoughts, atemporal thoughts, recalling the song they listened to, and recalling any other song) allowing us to identify the exact moment at which those thoughts were experienced. This procedure successfully induced earworms in most participants. fMRI whole-brain analysis revealed increased brain activity in the right auditory dorsal stream (including intraparietal sulcus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, and premotor areas) during earworm experiences compared to music listening and other non-musical involuntary thoughts. Our preliminary results indicate that involuntary musical imagery relies on a similar cortical network underlying goal-directed auditory imagery and auditory working memory.
ZOOM LINK: https://ub-edu.zoom.us/j/91028030352