Craving for music increases after music listening and is related to earworms and personality

Abstract

Recent research suggests that music listening elicits chills during intense moments. In addition, anticipative physiological and neural responses prior to the chills occur. Those responses can be interpreted as craving for the particularly intense moments. The concept of craving originates in addiction research and describes the urge to consume a substance or to execute a behavior. The current study aims to investigate craving for music and its psychological correlates. Participants’ craving for music was assessed via questionnaire before and after they listened to a song. In addition, earworms before and after music listening were assessed. Finally, personality traits were measured. The results indicated that craving for music significantly increased after listening to a song. The same was observed for earworms. Craving for music and earworms were significantly related, and baseline craving was also related to psychoticism and openness to experience. The results emphasize that craving reactions not only occur within a piece of music but also increase after listening to music. This is in line with the findings from addiction research. The relationship between craving for music with other psychological states and traits opens perspectives for future research.

Keywords

craving music earworm addiction personality

The concept of craving originates in addiction research and describes how people who suffer from addiction crave substances (Anton, 1999). Craving usually increases when patients are exposed to cues which are related to the respective substance (Carter & Tiffany, 1999). The specific reactions after cue exposure are called cue-reactivity. Cue-reactivity comprises increased subjective urges to consume the substance, increased physiological reactions such as increased heart rate and electrodermal activity (Carter & Tiffany, 1999), and a specific neural pattern which includes the mesolimbic reward system (Chase et al., 2011). According to Robinson and Berridge (1993), the cues are conditioned stimuli which evoke a conditioned emotional and motivational reaction which increases the risk of consuming the substance. They further postulate that substance use initially evokes positive experiences. Those positive experiences are called “liking”. However, the liking decreases after a period of regular use. Only the urges to consume the substance remain. Those urges are called “wanting”. Liking and wanting are also represented on the brain level. Liking is accompanied by heightened activation of affective networks of the brain such as the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) and the amygdala (Koob & Volkow, 2010). After prolonged use however, only those brain regions which represent wanting are sensitized (Robinson & Berridge, 2008). The dorsal striatum (nucleus caudatus) is a key region which is involved in the urge to consume the substance. It represents motor reactions and habit formation concerning addiction-relevant cues (Everitt & Robbins, 2016).

Recent research postulates that people can also suffer from behavioral addictions and crave for executing certain behaviors such as gambling, gaming, or shopping. Gambling disorder and gaming disorder have meanwhile been classified as addictions (World Health Organization, 2019). When the behavior cannot be executed, individuals can experience withdrawal symptoms. A recent meta-analysis (Starcke et al., 2018) demonstrated that individuals with gambling disorder, gaming disorder and excessive shopping behavior show heightened subjective craving, heightened physiological reactions and a specific neural pattern when exposed to addiction-relevant cues. A heightened activation was observed in the dorsal striatum (nucleus caudatus) among others. A further meta-analysis (Noori et al., 2016) compared brain activation when participants were exposed to different cues such as food, sex, gambling, and drug related cues. Results indicated that activations of the brain largely overlap despite the different types of cues. Brain regions that were consistently activated were those related to reward, emotional responses, and habit formation.

It has been argued that further behaviors or stimuli which are rewarding, such as music, can induce both intense pleasurable experiences and craving (Salimpoor et al., 2011). However, everyday activities such as passions or hobbies should not be regarded as pathological or dysfunctional (Billieux et al., 2015). Nevertheless, rewarding stimuli and activities such as music listening were found to be related to intense positive experiences (liking, pleasure) and anticipatory reactions (wanting, craving). Laboratory studies which assessed reactions toward music listening analyzed pleasure and craving in more detail. Intense positive experiences are named “chills”. Salimpoor et al. (2009) demonstrated increased electrodermal reactions, heart rate and respiration frequency, decreased finger temperature, and blood volume pulse amplitude during chill experiences. In a more recent study (Tsai et al., 2014), the temporal pattern of psychophysiological reactions to songs was examined in detail. All songs were composed of sad verses and highly emotional choruses. Two peaks of electrodermal activity occurred when participants listened to the songs: one when the emotional chorus began (chill experience), and a second one directly prior to the beginning of the emotional chorus (craving reaction). Similar results were found on the brain level. In one study (Salimpoor et al., 2011), the timeline of chill experiences was assessed in detail. During chill experiences, increased activation was observed in the ventral striatum and can be interpreted as the hedonic liking experience. Prior to the chill experiences, increased activation was observed in the dorsal striatum. Thus, anticipatory responses prior to a chill experience were observed at the physiological and the brain level. They can be interpreted as a craving reaction toward upcoming musical occurrences.

The concept of involuntary musical imagery has been examined experimentally in recent years. A review summarizes current findings concerning its phenomenology, reasons for occurrence, relationships with individual differences, and song features (Liikkanen & Jakubowski, 2020). Typically, song segments occur involuntary in repetitive loops and are stuck in the head. They are also referred to as “earworms”. Earworms are frequently triggered by external cues, in particular recent exposure to a certain song. The effect is more pronounced if the song has been heard several times. An experimental study (Byron & Fowles, 2015) has used unfamiliar songs to manipulate familiarity (they were played more or less frequently) and recency (earworms were measured immediately and later on). It could be demonstrated that familiarity and recency both enhanced the occurrence of earworms. Song features which are prone to trigger earworms are familiarity, liking the song, locus around the chorus, and the inclusion of lyrics. Relationships between the proneness to earworms and individual factors have also been observed. They were demonstrated for daydreaming and mind wandering, transliminality (the sensitivity to inner sensations and thoughts), the personality traits neuroticism and openness to experience, and for subclinical traits of the obsessive compulsive and the schizophrenia spectrum (overview in Liikkanen & Jakubowski, 2020). Earworms have been interpreted as a special form of intrusive thoughts (Hyman et al., 2012) which are related to obsessive compulsive behavior (Müllensiefen et al., 2014). The reason why people have earworms at all is still topic of debate. Liikkanen and Jakubowski (2020) propose that they may play a role in memory consolidation and mood regulation, or simply have no specific function. Recently, it has been proposed that earworms reflect the desire to sing along which results in automatically singing in one’s head (Killingly et al., 2021). The authors demonstrated that the desire to sing along was related to the strength of earworms.

In the current study, we assessed subjective craving reactions and the subjective experience of earworms prior to and after music listening. In addition, we assessed participants’ personality. We then analyzed the relationship between music related craving, earworms, and personality. This is of theoretical interest as little is known about the concept of craving for music and its psychological correlates. Craving for music after music listening might increase (craving for more) or decrease (craving satisfied through listening). Therefore, our first hypothesis is undirected. We expect a difference in craving for music prior to versus after music listening. We furthermore expect that the strength of earworms increases after music listening. We also investigate the relationship between craving for music listening and the strength of earworms. Recent research suggests that earworms are related to the desire to sing along (Killingly et al., 2021) and we expect that craving for music listening and earworms are related as well. Recent research suggests that the general tendency to generate earworms is related to neuroticism, and partially to openness to experience (Floridou et al., 2012). We therefore hypothesize that craving for music is also related to personality.

Method

Participants

Overall, 81 participants took part in the study (31 females, 41 males, and 9 non-binary). They were between 21 and 60 years of age (M = 29.58, SD = 6.41). All participants provided informed consent via a button click prior to participation. They took part in the study on a voluntary basis. They were not paid for participation, and they did not receive course credits or any other compensation. Participants who were younger than 18 years old were excluded from the study. After finishing the experiment, participants were fully debriefed and thanked for participation. A power analysis with G*Power (Faul et al., 2007) suggested an optimal sample size between 54 (for the pre-posttests) and 138 (for the correlational analyses). Finally, we were able to recruit 81 participants who finished the study.

Design and procedure

During the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 crisis, we used the online tool Labvanced (Labvanced, 2020) for conducting the study. The study was password protected and only the desired recipients were able to take part in the study. The study started off with the measurement of trait variables such as musical preferences, and personality. Afterwards, current craving for music, and current strength of potential earworms were assessed. Afterwards, participants listened to a song which they could choose out of eight songs. After music listening, craving for music and earworms were assessed again. Finally, a cognitive task and earworm-related questionnaires were administered, but results are not included here. The project was approved by the institutional ethical review board at the SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences.

Measures

Trait variables

To measure musical preferences, we used the Short Test of Music Preferences (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003) translated to German. Participants had to choose amongst 16 musical genres their favorite one, classical, blues, heavy metal, soundtracks/theme songs, modern classical/avantgarde, schlager, country/western, rap/hip-hop, jazz, alternative, pop, soul/funk, Latin/reggae, rock, religious (non-classical), techno/dance. The music preferences can be subdivided into four main categories: category one “reflexive and complex” includes genres such as classical, jazz, blues, and folk; category two “intense and rebellious” includes genres such as rock, heavy metal, and alternative; category three “upbeat and conventional” includes genres such as country, pop, and religious music; and category four “energetic and rhythmic” includes genres such as rap/hip-hop, soul/funk, and electronic/dance.

To measure participants’ personality, we used the Short Eysenck Personality Profiler with NEO-PI-R Openness (Starcke et al., 2021; von Georgi & Herr, 2020) which is a modified version of the Eysenck Personality Profiler (Eysenck et al., 1998), plus the dimension openness to experience from the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Thus, the questionnaire assessed the four personality dimensions extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, and openness to experience. It included 21 adjectives representing the different personality dimensions which can be answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (does not apply) to 5 (applies). The results of the single traits potentially range from 5 to 25 for extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism (as they are measured with 5 items each on a scale from 1 to 5), and from 6 to 30 for openness to experience (as it is measured with 6 items on a scale from 1 to 5).

State variables

To measure the current craving for music listening, a modified version of the Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (DAQ; Love et al., 1998) was used. The questionnaire was initially created for the measurement of alcohol craving. In recent studies, it has been modified to assess craving for potentially addictive shopping behavior (e.g., Trotzke et al., 2014). It consists of 14 items which assess current craving for shopping. For the current study, shopping was replaced by listening to music. Items were answered on a 7-point Likert-type scale from 1 (complete disagreement) to 7 (complete agreement). Examples are: “Listening to music would be satisfying now” or “I want to listen to music so much, I can almost feel it.” The complete modified questionnaire is provided in Appendix 1. In the previous study by Trotzke et al. (2014), subjective craving (assessed with the modified DAQ) corresponded with physiological data.

To measure the existence and strength of current earworms, the Musical Imagery Questionnaire (Wammes & Baruss, 2009) was used in a modified version. It was modified insofar that earworms were assessed as a current state. Therefore, the questionnaire was reduced from initially 42 to 21 items which were suited to assess the current existence of earworms. The 21 items were answered on a 5-point Likert-type scale that ranged from 1 (does not apply) to 5 (applies). Examples are: “Right now, I hear music in my head” or “Right now, the music in my head plays whether I want it to or not”. The complete modified questionnaire is provided in Appendix 2.

Music exposure

Participants were able to choose to listen to one of the following songs: “Riders on the storm (single version)” (The Doors), “Let it be” (The Beatles), “Gangstas Paradise” (Coolio), “Shape of you” (Ed Sheeran), “Levans Polka” (Loituma), “Smells like teen spirit” (Nirvana), “September” (Earth, Wind, and Fire), and “Despacito” (Louis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee). The participant’s choice behavior was not recorded. Songs which were selected for the study fulfilled the requirements that they covered the most liked music styles within the country of assessment, they were frequently viewed on YouTube, they were released in different decades, and they were shorter than 5 min and longer than 2.5 min.

Results

Most of the participants preferred energetic and rhythmic music. Music preferences and mean values for personality are shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Trait Variables of the Participants.

	Mean (SD)
Extraversion	19.32 (1.88)
Neuroticism	15.17 (2.97)
Psychoticism	16.69 (2.09)
Openness to experience	22.49 (3.59)
Preference reflexive and complex music	N = 5
Preference intense and rebellious music	N = 12
Preference upbeat and conventional music	N = 7
Preference energetic and rhythmic music	N = 57

Changes in craving for music and earworms before and after music listening were analyzed each with the Wilcoxon rank test for dependent samples. The Wilcoxon test was used because results showed some deviation from normal distribution. However, t-tests for dependent samples have reported to be robust against violation of normal distribution (Pagano, 2010; Wilcox, 2012), so we additionally performed paired t-tests and used Cohen’s d as corresponding effect size. Results indicated that craving significantly increased from before to after music listening as indicated by the Wilcoxon test and the t-test (W = 611.5, p < .001; t = −5.89, df = 80, p < .001, d = −0.65). The effect size d indicated a medium effect according to Cohen (1988). Earworms also significantly increased from before to after music listening as indicated by the Wilcoxon test and the t-test (W = 28, p < .001; t = −10.19, df = 80, p < .001, d = −1.13). The effect size d indicated a large effect according to Cohen (1988). Results are shown in Table 2.

Table 2.

Comparison of Means before and after Music Listening.

	Before music mean (SD)	After music mean (SD)	W	p
Craving	46.81 (9.67)	53.73 (8.89)	611.5	<.001
Earworms	61.73 (10.06)	77.65 (10.37)	28.0	<.001

Note. Analyses have been performed two-tailed. W = Wilcoxon W.

Correlations between craving for music with further psychological variables were performed with Spearman’s Rho. Results indicate relationships between craving for music with earworms and personality. The exact relationships are shown in Table 3.

Table 3.

Main Relationships between Craving for Music and Further Psychological Variables.

	Extraversion	Neuroticism	Psychoticism	Openness	Craving after	Earworm base
Craving base	0.25*	0.02	0.52***	0.50***	0.30**	0.38***
Craving after	0.04	−0.24*	0.001	0.11	–	−0.11
Earworm base	0.52***	0.07	0.39***	0.41***	−0.11	–
Earworm after	0.00	−0.11	0.11	0.11	0.58***	0.06

Note. Analyses have been performed two-tailed. Spearman’s ρ has been used.

p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Discussion

Results indicate that craving for music increased after listening to a piece of music. Thus, when participants started listening to music, they wanted more. They were not satisfied after listening to one piece of music. These findings extend cue-reactivity research in drug addiction or addictive behaviors (e.g., Trotzke et al., 2014). In addiction research, cues are presented but the substance consumption or the behavior is not executed, whereas music listening includes the “consumption” of the stimulus. In the current study, music listening increased emotional and motivational reactions which can be described as craving. This is in accordance with biopsychological laboratory studies which reported that craving reactions also occur within a piece of music, namely prior to chill experiences (Salimpoor et al., 2011; Tsai et al., 2014). The current finding that listening to one song triggers the desire for more music should be interpreted regarding the duration of the music exposure: Only one song was presented, that is, participants listened to music between 2.5 and 5 min. This does not reflect everyday patterns of music listening, and listening to one song might still reflect anticipation instead of consumption. Future studies should investigate whether longer listening periods lead to decreased craving, how long this period needs to be and whether there are relationships with individual characteristics of participants. Concerning not listening to any music, a recent study (Starcke et al., 2021) indicated that refraining from music listening for 7 days led to decreased psychological and physical health, and increased stress levels. This reaction pattern might be interpreted as strong desire for music listening (or even withdrawal symptoms) although this has not been assessed directly.

In line with previous studies (Floridou et al., 2012; Liikkanen & Jakubowski, 2020), the strength of earworms also increased after listening to a piece of music. Craving for music and earworms were related with one another at baseline and after music listening. While earworms have been interpreted as a special form of intrusive thoughts (Hyman et al., 2012) which are related to obsessive compulsive behavior (Müllensiefen et al., 2014), the craving concept originates in addiction research and includes the urge to consume substances (Robinson & Berridge, 1993, 2008) or execute behaviors (e.g., Starcke et al., 2018). Current results indicate that a relationship might exist between the intrusive processes (earworms) and the addictive processes (craving). A previous study (Killingly et al., 2021) demonstrated a relationship between the desire to sing along and the strength of earworms. Current findings extend the results insofar that the desire for music listening is also related to earworms. Future studies should disentangle the underlying mechanisms of intrusions and desires concerning earworms in more detail.

Craving for music at baseline was related to the personality traits extraversion, psychoticism and openness to experience. Craving for music after music listening was only related to neuroticism. A similar pattern was observed for earworms. While earworms at baseline were related to extraversion, psychoticism, and openness to experience, earworms after music listening were unrelated to any personality traits. The relationship between earworms at baseline with openness to experience is in line with a previous study which observed a relationship between the general tendency to generate earworms and openness to experience (Floridou et al., 2012), but only prior to music listening. The pattern of the current study indicated that there were relationships between personality with craving and earworms at baseline. However, after music listening, craving and earworms were mainly independent of the participants’ personality. In general, scores of the personality questionnaire corresponded with data of a recent study (Starcke et al., 2021), which indicates that the personality scores obtained in the current study were in line with previous findings.

Future studies should investigate whether craving for music listening can be used in therapeutic settings insofar that craving for music can be used specifically for reducing craving for substances or addictive behaviors. A recent study investigated whether specific songs increase or reduce craving for substances in patients with substance use disorders (Short & Dingle, 2015). Songs which were related to substance use increased craving for the substance, whereas songs which were related to abstinence decreased craving for the substance. Another study (Mathis & Han, 2017) demonstrated that abstinent patients with alcohol use disorder who listened to pleasing music showed reduced alcohol craving. A recent questionnaire study demonstrated that music listening can compete with eating (Carr & Epstein, 2018). In this study, participants made hypothetical choices between eating and other activities, among them music listening. Participants partly preferred music listening instead of eating. Results of the current study pointed out that music listening elicited craving for more music. Thus, individuals who suffer from addiction or overeating could profit from music related interventions to reduce the urges to perform the problematic behavior. Future studies should analyze in detail whether craving for music listening can compete with craving for dysfunctional behaviors insofar that individuals chose the music option.

Some limitations of the current study should be addressed. During the COVID-19 crisis we did not assess any physiological data which would have extended current data. Furthermore, participants of the current sample were very homogeneous concerning their musical preferences. In addition, they were significantly younger compared with the general population in the country of assessment. Furthermore, individuals who defined themselves as non-binary were overrepresented within the current sample which might be due to the sample’s young age and the region of assessment (in which an active lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual and queer or questioning community exists). A more heterogeneous sample concerning musical preferences and a more representative sample for the general population should be recruited in future studies. Finally, the musical stimuli were restricted to eight stimuli from which the participants could choose. The use of more individualized pieces of music would be fruitful in future studies.

Despite these limitations we consider the current work an approach to address craving for music and its psychological correlates. Results emphasize the craving eliciting character of music which might be used for therapeutic purposes. Finally, this is the first study which relates craving for music with earworms. On a conceptual level this implies investigating the intrusive components as well as the urge components which are related to music listening.

Footnotes

Appendix 1

The Desires for Music Listening Questionnaire used in the current study. It has been modified after the Desires for Shopping Questionnaire (Trotzke et al., 2014) which origins in the Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (Love et al., 1998).

Appendix 2

The Musical Imagery Questionnaire State used in the current study. It has been modified after the Musical Imagery Questionnaire (Wammes & Baruss, 2009).

Items 8 and 11 were inversely coded and were recoded prior to analyses.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Katrin Starcke

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