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The very common phenomenon is known as earworm, and while more research is needed to determine exactly what’s happening in your brain when they take hold, the repetition often is related to stress. Anything repeated probably has some tension-reducing characteristic, capturing your attention so you’re not attending to other things you find unpleasant.

It might also be affected by the music you listen to: Recent research suggests that songs with intervals that jump up and down are more likely to get stuck in your head — the whistling part of Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger,” for instance.

If you can’t get unstuck, do a brain teaser puzzle, read a novel or chew gum. Listening to the entire song (not just the catchy part) may also help break the loop.

– Scott Bea, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist