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New research by the Aussies explains that there is a formula for which songs get stuck in our heads, and they have advice on how to shake it off.

But first, hum a few bars of ‘I’m a Barbie Girl’ so that you can test their theory.

In a Barbie wo… Sorry, we meant to say that the research was conducted by the University of New South Wales’ Arts and media school. Researchers found that “involuntary musical imagery” tends to happen when we are relaxed and doesn’t necessarily have to do with how catchy they are, but rather how repetitive.

Prof Emery Schubert, who headed up the study, said most earworms are the choruses of songs, which are the most repeated parts of the song.

“What hasn’t been considered is that the hook is invariably repeated in the music, most commonly in the chorus. The implication is that earworms might not have anything to do with the musical features at all. It largely doesn’t matter what the music is, as long as repetition is part of the music structure.”

Earworms need to find you in a “low-attentional state”, or in a state of relaxation often referred to as mind wandering. And despite sometimes driving your spouse mad by repeating the chorus of Sugarman, most people find earworms ‘quite pleasant.’

According to an article in The Guardian, the research article is called Involuntary, Limited and Contiguously Repeating Musical Imagery (InLaCReMI): Reconciling theory and data on the musical material acquired by earworms. Despite the name not running the risk of becoming an earworm, Prof Schubert points to two types of earworms, namely “mindpops”, and “involuntary musical imagery”.

Mindpops are when a song just pops into your head, without you having heard it on the day. “Involuntary musical imagery” however is the traditional one when a fragment of music is repeated at least once.

“The spontaneous, involuntary, innocuous, non-psychotic appearance of a music fragment heard in one’s mind, without the same music sounding simultaneously in the environment, is now believed to be a common experience.”

Too bad science wasn’t like a pop song, then we’d all be better at remembering all the jargon. Luckily the team has some advice for getting ‘Barbie Girl‘ out of your head.

“You may be able to wrap up an earworm by either finishing off the music, consciously thinking of another piece of music, or by removing yourself from the triggers, such as words or memories that relate to the music or lyrics.”

A previous study found that Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ is one of the most common earworms. Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ and Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ are also on the list of ‘spontaneous, involuntary, innocuous, non-psychotic fragments of music’ heard in one’s mind.

With that in mind, here’s something to carry you through the day:

[source:guardian]