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I’ve been wondering how and why songs can get stuck in your head. This seems to happen to me frequently. Sometimes the song is one I’ve heard recently, so it makes sense that I’m thinking about it. Other times, it’s a song I haven’t heard (or I haven’t been aware of hearing) in a long time. Does it make sense to think about songs that are stuck in someone’s head as a repeating pattern of signals that may or may not have an input trigger? It’s interesting that sometimes it’s just the tune that gets stuck, other times it’s the sound of a specific recording of a song, or a specific person’s voice singing it. I suppose this makes sense after talking about how inputs can be complex and induce behaviors and responses that are even more complex. I wonder what it is about having a song stuck in your head that makes you want (or NEED) to hum it or sing it. I also wonder why the (usually successful) cure for a song that’s stuck in your head is to listen to that song. What does that do to alter the pattern in the brain enough to break the loop? 

Are there other, similar phenomena in the nervous system? I never really think of having a sight or a smell or a feeling or a flavor stuck in my head. Scent memory (a specific scent reviving a memory out of context) is somewhat similar, except that phenomenon is generally associated with a scent input. Recurring dreams might also be similar, except I don’t usually think recurring dreams run on a loop incessantly throughout the night.