The Science Behind Earworms?

[edschweppe]

From the BBC:

A US team from Dartmouth College, reported in the journal Nature, played volunteers tunes with snippets cut out.
They scanned for brain activity and found it centred in the auditory cortex - which handles information from ears.
When familiar tunes played, the cortex activity continued during the blanks - and the volunteers indeed said they still mentally "heard" the tunes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4332771.stm