innocently perusing the magazine rack, when a song pops into your head?

什麼念頭都沒有地瀏覽著雜誌架，突然間一首歌在你的腦海裡響起？

Not the whole song, but a fragment of it that plays and replays

不是整首歌，而是部分片段一遍接著一遍迴響於耳邊

until you find yourself unloading the vegetables in time to the beat.

直到你發現到自己將蔬菜取出結帳的動作已經與拍子分秒不差地契合。

You've been struck by an earworm, and you're not alone.

你已經受擾於「餘音繞梁」了，而且你還不是唯一的苦主

Over 90% of people are plagued by earworms at least once a week,

超過 90% 的人每個禮拜至少有一次會受到「餘音繞梁」的侵擾，

and about a quarter of people experience them several times a day.

而大概有四分之一的人是每天會經歷好幾遍。

They tend to burrow in during tasks that don't require much attention,

它們傾向于在我們從事不太需要專注力的事情時出現，

say, when waiting on water to boil

像是說在等待水煮開的時候

or a traffic light to change.

或是等交通號誌變換時

This phenomenon is one of the mind's great mysteries.

此現象是人類腦袋裡最神秘的事情之一

Scientists don't know exactly why it's so easy for tunes to get stuck in our heads.

科學家們也不清楚曲調為何會如此輕易地深植於我們腦海裡

From a psychological perspective,

從心理學的角度來看，

earworms are an example of mental imagery.

「餘音繞樑」是一種內心意象的呈現

This imagery can be visual,

這種意象可以是視覺的，

like when you close your eyes and imagine a red wagon,

像當你閉上眼睛想像一輛紅色的手推車

or it can be auditory,

或者也可能是聲音的意象

like when you imagine the sound of a baby screaming,

就像當你在想像著嬰兒哭泣的聲音，

or oil sizzling in a pan.

或是像平底鍋裡油吱吱作響的聲音。

Earworms are a special form of auditory imagery

「餘音繞梁」是特殊的聲音意象

because they're involuntary.

因為這些音樂會不由自主地在耳邊迴盪。

You don't plug your ears and try to imagine "Who Let the Dogs Out,"

你不必摀住耳朵然後試圖想像 "Who Let the Dogs Out" 這首歌要怎麼唱

or, well, you probably don't.

或者，對啦，你應該不需要。

It just intrudes onto your mental soundscape

它恰好可以侵入進你內心的聲音天地

and hangs around like an unwanted house guest.

而且就像個不請自來的客人在你的腦中到處閒晃

Earworms tend to be quite vivid

「餘音繞梁」通常是相當鮮明的

and they're normally made up of a tune, rather than, say, harmonies.

一般來說它們是由旋律多過於由合聲所組成。

A remarkable feature of earworms is their tendency to get stuck in a loop,

「餘音繞梁」的奇特之處是他們有陷在繞圈圈般不斷重複的傾向，

repeating again and again for minutes or hours.

不斷重複播放長達數分鐘或數小時之久

Also remarkable is the role of repetition in sparking earworms.

同樣引人注意的是，重複撥放音樂對觸發這個現象有關鍵的作用

Songs tend to get stuck when we listen to them recently and repeatedly.

如果當我們在近期內不斷重複地聽到這些歌，旋律就會在你的腦海中不斷迴盪。

If repetition is such a trigger,

假使重複撥放會造成這種現象，

then perhaps we can blame our earworms on modern technology.

那麼也許我們可以將這個現象咎責於現代科技的發展

The last hundred years have seen an incredible proliferation

在過去100年裡看到了電子裝置的激增

of devices that help you listen to the same thing again and again.

幫助你一再重複聽取相同內容

Records, cassettes, CDs, or streamed audio files.

例如唱片、卡式錄音帶、CD片、串流音樂...等

Have these technologies bred some kind of unique, contemporary experience,

這些技術真的帶來某種獨有的、短暫的經驗嗎？

and are earworms just a product of the late 20th century?

「餘音繞梁」只是二十世紀末才有的現象嗎？

The answer comes from an unlikely source:

答案來自於一個我們意想不到的人：

Mark Twain.

馬克吐溫

In 1876, just one year before the phonograph was invented,

在1867年，正是留聲機被發明的前一年，

he wrote a short story imagining a sinister takeover

他寫了一篇短文想像著押著韻的叮噹聲

of an entire town by a rhyming jingle.

凶兆般的控制整個城鎮。

This reference, and others,

這個描述以及其他的內容

show us that earworms seem to be a basic psychological phenomenon,

向我們證明了「餘音繞樑」似乎是一種普通的心理現象，

perhaps exacerbated by recording technology

也許錄音技術使其更加嚴重

but not new to this century.

但絕非是本世紀的新玩意兒

So yes, every great historical figure, from Shakespeare to Sacajawea,

所以沒有錯，從莎士比亞到薩卡加維的每一位偉大的歷史人物

may well have wandered around with a song stuck in their head.

也許都有一首歌盤據在腦袋裡。

Besides music, it's hard to think of another case of intrusive imagery

除了音樂以外，很難想到另一個

that's so widespread.

有如此廣泛的侵入性意象案例

Why music?

為什麼是音樂？

Why don't watercolors get stuck in our heads?

為什麼不是水彩畫佇留在我們的腦海？

Or the taste of cheesy taquitos?

又或是墨西哥起司捲餅的味道？

One theory has to do with the way music is represented in memory.

有個理論提及音樂在記憶裡呈現的方法

When we listen to a song we know,

當我們聽著一首熟悉的歌，

we're constantly hearing forward in time, anticipating the next note.

我們經常聽到比當下正播放的要更後面，預想著下一個音符。

It's hard for us to think about one particular musical moment in isolation.

只單獨想著一段特定的音樂片段對我們來說是困難的。

If we want to think about the pitch of the word "you" in "Happy Birthday,"

假使我們要去想 "you" 這個字在生日快樂歌裡的音調

we have to start back at "Happy,"

我們必須回到 "Happy" 來做開始，

and sing through until we get to "you."

一直唱下去直到我們唱到了 "you"

In this way, a tune is sort of like a habit.

這樣來說曲調就有點像是一個習慣

Just like once you start tying your shoe,

就好像是打從你開始綁鞋帶

you're on automatic until you tighten the bow,

直到你綁好蝴蝶節前，你的一切行為都是不假思索的

once a tune is suggested

一旦想到某個調子，

because, for example, someone says, "my umbrella,"

例如因為某人說了「My umbrella」

we have to play through until it reaches a natural stopping point,

我們就得在腦中播歌直到唱到了原本的停頓處「ella, ella, ella.」

"ella, ella, ella."

「ella, ella, ella.」

But this is a largely speculation.

不過這也只是推測。

The basic fact remains we don't know exactly why we're susceptible to earworms.

事實上我們仍未確切地明瞭為什麼我們會這麼容易受到「餘音繞梁」的影響。

But understanding them better could give us important clues

但是更清楚的認識它們可以給我們

to the workings of the human brain.

有關人類大腦運作的重要線索

Maybe the next time we're plagued

也許下回我們受擾於

by a Taylor Swift tune that just won't go away,

盤據於腦內久久不去的泰勒絲曲調

we'll use it as the starting point for a scientific odyssey

我們會利用它來當一段科學旅程的開端

that will unlock important mysteries about basic cognition.

那將會解開基本認知的重大迷團

And if not, well, we can just shake it off.

假若不行，我們就忘了它吧！