Why do songs replay in your mind with no off switch? A music psychologist explains earworm triggers, repetition, and ...

Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You know that feeling when you just can’t get a song out of your head—just a short part of it playing over and over?

Emery Schubert receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Pause and think about it for a moment. For those unfamiliar, nothing will come to mind. But if you’ve heard the song of the same ...