Ask HN: What is the evolutionary explanation for having a song stuck in my head? - avindroth
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qbrass
Your brain tries to match sensory data with things, so you hear two noises in
the background, something in your head says that sounds familiar, then your
brain goes over it until it comes to the conclusion that it's a tiger or food
or the intro to Funkytown. Once your brain makes the association, it thinks
the song is relevant and tries to make more associations keeping it in your
thoughts.

Music finds it evolutionary beneficial so songs have evolved to become
earworms that you'll sometimes spread to other hosts. It's not really
detrimental to humans, so there's no impetus to weed it out.

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prmph
And is this a falsifiable explanation, or another of those "just so"
speculations?

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stuxnet79
Yes a lot of these theories and speculations tend to not be scientifically
tractable. I did an Anthropology minor in college but became very unimpressed
with the mainstream theories regarding the evolution of various modern traits.
Seemed like a competition to see who could come up with the most seductive,
crazy theory and not the falsifiable one.

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calebsurfs
Long-distance running on the savanna exerted many selective pressures on early
humans.

Hearing rhythmic sounds in your head could arise from prehistoric humans
running in groups together- music / songs on repeat helps synchronize pace and
maintain tight formation.

The Bipedal Hypothesis:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_musicology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_musicology)

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sova
Possible explanations:

\+ the world ends and starts as music.

\+ the resonance of the cavity of your inner ear adds to the suggested best-
fit-auto-fit-auditory-consciousness-[memory] as qbrass pointed out.

\+ birds must remember songs to communicate effectively, a lot of their
understanding is based on the shape of their beaks and lungs. based on our
"evolutionary shape" or "genetic fractal manifestations" our conch-like ears
are good for resonating tones that could be beneficial to us (like mating
calls)

\+ from a linguistic evolution point of view, something that not only carries
the soothing calm of a mother's voice but also helpful information becomes
something worth repeating for sake of the individual and the species at large

\+ typically people recall the lyrics to a song, or the vocal melody line, but
people who play instruments can get bass or drum parts "stuck in their head"
so evolutionarily speaking it is all about what your instrument of
communication is (that coordinates sound and physical expressivity)

\+ kaw!

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mobiuscog
There's been a fair amount of research, most recently at Goldsmiths University
in London: [http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-
project/](http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/)

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mbrock
I don't know, but you could think about the evolution not of your brain but of
the melodic meme. You know about the song because it has the catchiness
property, and it spreads because you keep whistling it.

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p333347
Could be a bug in our firmware.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
Why do you think there's an evolutionary explanation for it beyond "the human
brain is a big lump of meat in a chemical stew and stuff happens sometimes"?

