However, an experimental study by McCullough-Campbell and Margulis (2015) found no difference between finished and incomplete songs in subsequent self-reported earworms. (2013) found that if the final song presented continued to play in participants’ heads at the end of the class, it was reported as an earworm more frequently in a follow-up survey 24 hours later, interpreted as partial support for the Zeigarnik effect.
In a series of in-class experiments, Hyman et al. Accordingly, an earworm may develop after the frustrated attempt to hear a song to its completion. In general, people might be more likely to recall an unfinished task than one that is complete, a phenomenon known as the Zeigarnik effect: when interrupted partway through a task, one feels a sense of incompleteness, resulting in an increased desire to finish the task, and a greater prominence of the task in memory ( Zeigarnik, 1938). Some have theorized that a song is more likely to get stuck in the head if it is partially heard than if it is heard in its entirety ( Hyman et al., 2013), potentially because people are compelled to engage in “imagined vocalization” in order to complete the song ( McCullough-Campbell & Margulis, 2015). Similarly, it possible that an earworm may arise simply due to the manner in which a song is heard. Together, these findings indicate that simple exposure to music can render a song more likely to get stuck in the head. Research finds that factors such as recent and repeated presentation of music are influential in the development of an earworm ( Byron & Fowles, 2015 Floridou, Williamson, & Stewart, 2017 Halpern & Bartlett, 2011 Liikkanen, 2012). Moreover, despite the common belief that earworms are annoying or unwanted ( Beaman & Williams, 2010 Cunningham, Downie, & Bainbridge, 2005), research indicates that most songs people report getting stuck in their head are those that they enjoy ( Halpern & Bartlett, 2011 Hyman et al., 2013 Williamson, Liikkanen, Jakubowski, & Stewart, 2014) and to which they commonly listen ( Halpern & Bartlett, 2011). In general, while there are certain songs renowned for their intrusive qualities, earworms tend to vary among individuals ( Hyman et al., 2013). There is debate as to whether any song can be experienced as an earworm or whether there are particular predisposing characteristics of “sticky” tunes ( Finkel & Müllensiefen, 2012 Jakubowski et al., 2017 Williamson et al., 2012).
Together, these findings suggest that an earworm results from an unconscious desire to sing along to a familiar song. Additionally, results from a lexical decision task indicated that many participants’ keystrokes synchronized with the tempo of the song just heard. Experiment 2 ( N = 50) replicated the effect using songs with which the participants felt compelled to sing along. Moreover, the effect was stronger for songs rated higher in terms of the desire to sing along. Performance was indeed poorer following catchier songs, particularly if the songs were unfinished. Experiment 1 ( N = 30) used songs predicted to be more or less catchy half of the sample heard truncated versions.
We predicted that the music would be maintained in working memory, interfering with the task. In two experiments, a dual-task paradigm was employed, in which participants undertook a phonological task once while hearing music, and then again in silence following its presentation. Music that gets “stuck” in the head is commonly conceptualized as an intrusive “thought” however, we argue that this experience is better characterized as automatic mental singing without an accompanying sense of agency.