Andrea Halpern

Andrea Halpern

Andrea Halpern is a researcher and co-author of the 2011 earworm study and the 2015 tempo study.

Who they are

The work of Andrea Halpern reaches this site through the papers listed below. The name is tied to Involuntary Musical Imagery.

Key papers

Halpern, A. R., & Bartlett, J. C. (2011). The persistence of musical memories: A descriptive study of earworms. Music Perception, 28(4), 425-432. What it reports: Survey and diary study (study 1) and a larger sample on triggers (study 2). Earworms were common and frequent, often linked to recent exposure to music, most were not unpleasant, verbal earworms were uncommon.

Jakubowski, K., Farrugia, N., Halpern, A. R., Sankarpandi, S. K., & Stewart, L. (2015). The speed of our mental soundtracks: Tracking the tempo of involuntary musical imagery in everyday life. Memory & Cognition, 43(8), 1229-1242. What it reports: Over four days participants tapped the beat of mental music using a wrist-worn accelerometer and kept a diary. Recalled music largely accurate; tempo tracked earlier findings on voluntary imagery; higher subjective arousal linked to faster tempo.

Key ideas

Involuntary Musical Imagery: A tune that replays in the mind without being called up, commonly known as an earworm.

Sources

  1. Halpern, A. R., & Bartlett, J. C. (2011). The persistence of musical memories: A descriptive study of earworms. Music Perception, 28(4), 425-432.
  2. Jakubowski, K., Farrugia, N., Halpern, A. R., Sankarpandi, S. K., & Stewart, L. (2015). The speed of our mental soundtracks: Tracking the tempo of involuntary musical imagery in everyday life. Memory & Cognition, 43(8), 1229-1242.