The only thing worse than having a Nickelback song stuck in your head is… I don’t know. I really don’t know what is worse. But it can send you into a sort of demented frenzy trying to get it out. You might even go so far as to play a Justin Bieber song, or that god-awful Call Me Maybe, to replace the lyrics to Photograph that you don’t really know.

Apparently it doesn’t have to be so extreme though.

According to a new study, all you have to do is a pop a piece of gum in your mouth and chew vigourously.

It turns out that just the mechanical act of moving one’s jaw up and down can reduce the number of times people think about a catchy song, as well as how often they “hear” that song playing in their minds.

Earworms is the name given to songs that get stuck in your head and they’ve been studied for years. I quite like this explanation from researchers: “People with greater cognitive function experience earworms for a shorter duration than their less cognitively capable peers”. Does this mean I am super-intelligent because I only have songs stuck in my head for a really short time?

Another study shows that if you put your mental attention on another task after being played a particularly sticky tune, you should be able to reduce the incidence of earworms. The trick, though, is that the task must be “neither too challenging or too simple”.

That’s right. Go stock up on some chewing gum for the long drive to AfrikaBurn.

[Source: LA Times]

P.S. Did Nickelback ever release that dubstep album they were threatening?