Earworm

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 is distinct from palinacousis, a rare medical condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe of the brain that results in auditory hallucinations.^[25]