Earworms!

April 22nd, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

No, these aren’t actually those slimy creatures with cylindrical bodies devoid of limbs or eyes.

Earworms are bits of music that keep echoing in your brain and you can’t get rid of it. AKA stuck song syndrome, sticky music, musical imagery repetition, intrusive musical imagery, or involuntary musical imagery.

A 2020 study of American college students showed that 97 percent had experienced an earworm in the past month. One in five had these creatures crawling in their heads more than once a day. Average length? 10–30 minutes. But not causing a whole lot of distress.

Apparently it’s all in your auditory cortex, in the temporal lobe of your brain. And your amygdala and ventral striatum, involved in emotion, play supporting roles.

One group of researchers called it a “cognitive itch,” attempts at suppression of which only make things worse.

Dr. Michael K. Scullin, of Baylor University in Waco, TX:

It’s also worth pointing out that earworms don’t always occur right after a song ends. Sometimes they only occur many hours later, and sometimes the earworm isn’t the song you were most recently listening to.”

Nobody really knows how these critters function. Normally, they are part of a healthy brain. But rarely they can presage trouble, especially if accompanied by other neurological symptoms like loss of consciousness or confusion, visual loss or changes, speech problems, and tremors of arms or legs. Drug toxicity, brain damage, schizophrenia, depression, etc., may be responsible.

Elaine Jones, MD, a neurologist and fellow of the American Academy of Neurology:

If an earworm is persistent for more than 24 hours, or if it is associated with the other symptoms mentioned above, it would be important to reach out to your primary care doctor to ensure that nothing more serious is going on. With no other symptoms, it is more likely to be just an earworm.”

Psalm 81 has within it the longing of God for a people who would respond to him by … listening!

“Listen, My people, and I will remonstrate with you—
Israel, if you would [only] listen to Me.
Let there not be among you a strange god;
and you shall not worship a foreign god.
I am Yahweh, your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
open wide your mouth wide and I will fill it.
And My people did not listen to My voice,
and Israel did not [want to] submit to Me.
And I sent him [off] to the stubbornness of their heart:
they can walk by their own plans.
Would that My people would listen to Me,
[and] Israel would walk in My paths.”
Psalm 81:8–13

There is a tone of lament in these verses, a reflection of the grief of God because of a wayward people. And look at what would happen if only God’s people listened to his word—having his utterances for earworms, constantly ringing in our brains.

“Quickly their enemies I would subdue,
and against their adversaries turn My hand.
And I would feed you from the best of wheat,
and [with] honey from the rock I would satiate you.”
Psalm 81:14–16

If only they listened had walked in the divine way (listening = obedience: in Hebrew the verb for “listen” and “obey” are the same: shama’ ), they would have been protected (81:14) and abundantly provided for (81:16). Indeed, just as God had fed his people once (81:10), he would feed them in plenty again (81:16). Yes, listening (= obeying) leads to blessing.

Yup, God’s words are good earworms to have!

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal