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< The Greatest Orchestra in the World | Main | Awesome Jelloslave >

Sticky melodies

Posted at 12:35 PM on March 18, 2010 by Alison Young
Filed under: Fun finds, In the media

Why is it that I oftentimes immediately forget the name of someone who has just introduced themselves to me, but not for love or money get a commercial jingle out of my head?

A recent Q&A on the New York Times website points to the success of "earworms." It's "music characterized by simplicity, repetitiveness and incongruity with listeners' expectations is most likely to become 'stuck.' "

Good news for advertisers I would think!

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