In an interesting research, scientists at the University of Reading have concluded that chewing a gum helps in eradicating the humming of song which is catchy of course and tends to go on and on within our head for days.
The effect called an earworm or brainworm have been observed before but was poorly understood. However, this time, the researchers did come up with a solution and that is, having chewing gum as soon as one hears a catchy song, helps in thinking the song less often.
Chewing helps in thinking of song less likely
Some 93 people volunteered for the study. They were made to listen the foot tapping numbers like Play Hard by David Guetta and Payphone by Maroon 5. Within the next 3 min, they were asked to press a key indicating that they were thinking about either of the songs.
Volunteers those were having chewing gum reported humming of the song within their brain less often than not having chewing gum. This clarified the fact that the chewing process reduces the amount of number of times they experience hearing of song within their mind.
Researchers concluded that the chewing gum effect on earworms stops the germination of intrusive thoughts. The gum-chewing approach obstructs the inner speech in a refined format, added Dr. Phil Beaman, lead of the study.
Nevertheless, more research is yet to be done in the field. If the scientists are able to get more insights then time in not far when obsessive-compulsive and related disorders are cured with the similar yet interesting approach.
[Image: South China Morning Post]
