Chew Gum To Turn Off That Annoying Song Stuck In Your Head, Study Says

Want to get rid of those distracting songs or thoughts in your head (or what scientists are referring to as earworms)? Maybe try chewing some gum and see how that helps.

Researchers at the University of Reading discovered that silencing annoying voices hanging around in our thought processes may be a bit more simple than we thought. The best possible way to get rid of them might, indeed, be picking up a pack of our favorite flavored gum.

"If you are trying to rid yourself of an unwanted tune, it is less likely to pop up involuntarily when chewing," said researcher Philip Beaman of the university, in a news release.

Previous studies have suggested that reading a novel or playing some sort of game might also help, but researchers found that chewing gum is the best way to dissuade distracted ears, if not eliminate the thought process altogether.

"After playing them the catchy tunes 'Play Hard' by David Guetta and 'Payphone' by Maroon 5, we asked [participants] to try not to think of the songs they had just heard over the next three minutes but to hit a key each time they did," added lead study author Dr. Phil Bearman. "In the chewing gum condition, volunteers reported thinking of and ‘hearing' the song less often than in no-activity and finger-tapping control conditions."

For the study, researchers had 44 members of the research group listen to David Guetta featuring Flo Rida and Akon's ‘Play Hard' twice. Then, they asked them to press the ‘q' button every time the song popped back into their head. After that, they asked them to follow the same step, but while chewing on some gum. The study results showed that participants were more likely to press the ‘q' button when they were not chewing on a stick of gum.

A second experiment that consisted of 18 participants asked those involved what they thought of a song voluntarily or if it just kept on playing in their heads. Again, the study showed that when chewing gum, the participants thought of the song less.

The third and final experiment looked at 46 participants that listened to Payphone by Maroon 5. The same conclusion that held up in the first and second experiment was also true in the final third; participants thought of the song less in their minds when chewing on gum.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.