Why repeating words sound like music to your brain

Repeating spoken words is a technique familiar to music buffs — the rhythm of the repetition feels like song. Now, scientists think they can explain why. It turns out it has to do with how our brains process language.

more…

I wonder if there is a link between that and ear worms, IMI Involuntary Musical Imagery?

Tau.Neutrino said:

I wonder if there is a link between that and ear worms, IMI Involuntary Musical Imagery?

I’ve always found music memory to be a mystery to me. I can remember a piece of music perhaps 5 minutes long (it’d be interesting to find out how long) like a loop tape. The speed of thought within the brain is much less well known than the speed within peripheral nerves, let’s say it’s 80 metres per second. 5 minutes at 80 metres per second is 24 kilometres.

How can a circuit 24 kilometres long exist within my brain? Even it I’ve overestimated that length by a factor of ten, that’s still a heck of a long circuit.

Let me just check that 5 minutes. Tried it. 2 1/2 minutes before it started repeating.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Why repeating words sound like music to your brain

Repeating spoken words is a technique familiar to music buffs — the rhythm of the repetition feels like song. Now, scientists think they can explain why. It turns out it has to do with how our brains process language.

more…

> “Letter-Muscle-Berry-Babble” once, and you should just hear the words. Play it on a loop, and it becomes more music-like.”

I experienced something somewhat different. On the first repeat it suddenly became like music to me, but after ten seconds it reverted back to sounding like rhythmic words.

Could that be just an experience thing? When I hear words repeated a few times it’s most common that I hear that as part of song lyrics. But hearing the same words repeated over and bloody over again – that’s not music, that ads.

That puts me in mind of this peculiar thing: Bulbous Bouffant by a Canadian comedy troupe called The Vestibules (they used to be called Radio Free Vestibule.)