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The article discusses research concerning what scientists call involuntary musical images or earworms that cause music to be fixated in the human brain. It examines research conducted by Goldsmiths, University of London, that showed that the singing that humans hear in the brain is nearly identical to actual recordings, and that internal music begins playing during times of low cognitive load. The article presents comments from Western Washington University psychologist Ira Hyman.

The article discusses the psychological impact of holiday music, and why people can find it annoying. Although humans evolved to be particularly receptive to music, the best music contains elements of nuance and surprise that reveal themselves only over several iterations. Aimed to appeal to a broad audience, though, holiday music generally includes neither.

Discusses a medical condition called "musical hallucination" that scientists suspect is the result of malfunctioning brain networks that normally allow humans to perceive music. Experience of Reginald King, who first started hearing music when recovering from bypass surgery; Comments of Dr. Victor Aziz, a psychiatrist in Wales who belongs to a circle of psychiatrists and neurologists who are investigating this condition; How Aziz and his colleague Dr. Nick Warner will publish an analysis of 30 cases of musical hallucination they have seen in South Wales in the journal "Psychopathology"; Findings of the study; How the results support recent work by neuroscientists indicating that our brains uses special networks of neurons to perceive music.

The article highlights a study which hypothesized that music can influence individuals' psychological aspects and preferences.

Reveals the finding from a study that people who are tone deaf or who have amusia are actually processing the sounds differently in their brains.