00:00Have you always wondered, why do we get songs stuck in our head?
00:03They're called earworms, but scientists refer to them as involuntary music imagery.
00:10Sometimes you don't even need to hear the song.
00:12A word, a situation, or a memory all can trigger it.
00:16Your brain goes, remember this one?
00:18Oh, you will after I play it another 900 times.
00:22So exactly why do we get earworms?
00:24Well, it turns out that our brains love patterns.
00:27And occasionally brains get stuck because they're trying to finish the musical pattern.
00:32Researchers say many times the cure is simply to listen to the entire song.
00:37So the next time a song gets stuck in your head, remember, it's not necessarily your brain malfunctioning.
00:43It's just what brains do.
00:45Recognizing patterns, replaying familiar information,
00:48and occasionally deciding that what you really need is the chorus of a song you haven't heard since 1987.
00:54Always wondered, stream it now, wherever you get your podcasts.
