Catchy melodies and certain personality traits were examined by researchers from ELTE and BME. Their study also highlights that "earworm" phenomena are not merely pleasant or unpleasant experiences that pop up from time to time in our lives, but can also serve as a gateway to self-awareness and mental health.
All of us have experienced an earworm—a tune that just wouldn't leave our heads, no matter how hard we tried. The phenomenon is mostly harmless, but some studies link it to certain personality traits, such as a tendency towards anxiety or the degree of mental control.
Flóra Fülöp (Budapest University of Technology and Economics) and Ferenc Honbolygó (ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology) in their new study recently investigated, with the involvement of 4300 Hungarian participants, whether the scientifically named phenomenon, earworm, is more closely related to compulsive repetition or to intense sensory experiences. For their research, they used questionnaires that measure both schizotypy (that is, a non-pathological tendency towards psychosis associated with schizophrenia) and non-clinical obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). These tendencies can also be present in average, healthy individuals.
The researchers found that people who are prone to unusual sensory experiences (for example, hearing sounds others do not) or compulsive thoughts (the kind they cannot banish) think more often about why a melody is stuck in their heads, or move along to the tune (such as tapping their fingers or humming) when an earworm is playing in their mind.
They also discovered that those with stronger compulsive thoughts more often find earworms unpleasant or disturbing. However, those with a stronger schizotypal tendency (for example, disposed to perceiving odd or special things) experience earworms more frequently—but don’t necessarily find them bad.
Interestingly, none of the personality traits affected how long an earworm lasted, which contradicts earlier research.
Another novel finding was that schizotypy predicted the degree of self-observation and related movement associated with earworms. Those who scored higher on schizotypal traits paid more attention to the processes occurring within them that may cause earworms (such as unresolved problems or other concerns), and moved more often while experiencing earworms (for example, tapping their feet to the rhythm or drumming). This is similar to how people living with schizophrenia perceive music as a hallucination (meaning they are unaware the sound is only in their head).
The research points out that while earworm experiences are mostly harmless, certain personality traits can influence how we perceive them. Those who are prone to introspective thinking (self-observation) or unique sensory experiences may encounter recurring melodies more often and reflect more deeply on their meaning.
The findings help us better understand how everyday mental experiences are connected to individual differences, and how a simple, seemingly ordinary phenomenon—like a stuck melody—can become a tool for psychological self-awareness.