Scientists from Reading University have discovered that chewing gum helps to forget catchy songs. They experimented on 90 students (quite right, too). The students were subjected to Play Hard by David Guetta or Payphone by Maroon 5 and were asked not to think about the tune for three minutes. The half given gum to chew successfully forgot the song more often. Apparently, short term memory is helped by mouthing something to yourself, specifically auditory imagery. Chewing gum interferes with that process.
I bet Joe Simpson, the mountaineer, wish he’d chewed gum when he crawled across a glacier with broken legs, tortured by a Boney M song stuck in his head.
Now, my mother never let me chew gum. I think it was more to do with the disposal process but the gob action might have offended her. As a result, I don’t chew gum. Is that why there are so many tunes in my head?
Here’s David Guetta’s Play Hard so you can experiment on yourselves, your family or your friends as you see fit. I’m afraid I don’t have any gum.