Mind Music
Read Mind Music and check the IELTS Reading answers. Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them 'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms', and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientist…
Passage preview
Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them 'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms', and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists are studying earworms to explore the mysteries of memory and the part of the brain that is beyond our conscious control. 'The idea that we have full control over our thought processes is an illusion,' says psychologist Lauren Stewart, who founded the master's program in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, where recent research has taken place. Researchers haven't been able to watch what happens in the brain when earworms occur, because they happen unpredictably. Much of what is known about them comes from surveys, questionnaires, diaries and lab experiments.
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- designed to adjective phrase
Made or planned on purpose in order to achieve a particular effect.
In the passage:
Q22 says "intentionally memorable"; the passage says hooks are "designed to target the brain and leave it wanting more" (paragraph G).
Synonyms: intentionally, intended to
Opposites: accidental
- entrenched adjective
Firmly established and very difficult to change or remove.
In the passage:
Q26 says "more persistent"; the passage says a looping fragment "could make an earworm even more entrenched" (paragraph E).
Synonyms: persistent, deep-rooted
Opposites: temporary
- fixate on verb phrase
To think about or look at something so much that you cannot stop.
In the passage:
"Songs the brain fixates on are usually those it has been exposed to recently" (paragraph D).
Synonyms: obsess over, dwell on
Opposites: ignore
- intrusive adjective
Disturbing a person's thoughts or privacy when it is not wanted.
In the passage:
People who "find them most intrusive" have different brain structures (paragraph B), the evidence for Q19.
Synonyms: unwelcome, disruptive
Opposites: welcome
- liken verb
To say that one thing is similar to another.
In the passage:
"Dr Stewart likens earworms to 'sonic screen savers'" (paragraph C) shows how the researcher explains her idea.
Synonyms: compare, equate
Opposites: distinguish
- pinpoint verb
To find or identify the exact position or cause of something.
In the passage:
"Researchers say they can't pinpoint a spot in the brain where earworms live" (paragraph F).
Synonyms: identify, locate
- unoccupied adjective
Not busy; not doing a task or using attention.
In the passage:
Q20 says "not focused on a task"; the passage says "while it is otherwise unoccupied" (paragraph C).
Synonyms: idle, not focused on a task
Opposites: busy
- weigh on the mind verb phrase
To make a person worry or keep thinking about something.
In the passage:
Unfinished thoughts "weigh on the mind more heavily than those that are completed" (paragraph E).
Synonyms: worry, trouble
Opposites: reassure
- yield mixed results verb phrase
To produce outcomes that are partly good and partly bad or unclear.
In the passage:
Experiments with interrupted songs "have yielded mixed results" (paragraph E); a useful hedge in Writing Task 2.
Synonyms: give uneven outcomes
Opposites: produce clear results
Answers with explanations
- 14. G
Look for a paragraph that lists what these songs have in common. The question's **characteristics common to** becomes **share certain features**, and the paragraph names them: a repeating pattern of ups and downs in pitch and irregular intervals. Paragraph G also discusses repetition, but this sentence is the description of shared features.
- 15. A
A **justification for research** means the reason scientists study earworms. Paragraph A gives it: they are studying them **to explore the mysteries of memory** and the part of the brain beyond our conscious control. Paragraph H also talks about research, but it describes plans, not a reason.
- 16. F
**Known and unknown songs** are **familiar** and **unfamiliar music**. Paragraph F says the brain areas that became active were different in each case: right frontal and temporal areas for familiar music, the left frontal area for unfamiliar music. That is the brain's reaction to both.
- 17. H
Look for **different age groups**, which the passage words as **people at different stages of life**. The researchers are recruiting people for a study of whether they **experience earworms differently**, which is the planned research the question describes. The ringtone test earlier in the paragraph is not about age.
- 18. wrist
The summary's **monitor** is the passage's **device**, and the volunteers who tapped to the beat wore it on their **wrist**. Look in the paragraph about the Goldsmiths study of recordings.
- 19. emotions
The summary's **hear earworms more frequently** matches people who **report hearing earworms often**. Their brains differ in the areas **associated with processing emotions**, so the brain deals with **emotions** differently. The plural is the form in the passage.
- 20. entertained
**Not focused on a task** matches **otherwise unoccupied**. The earworms "keep the mind **entertained**", and the summary's "is ... by earworms" needs a past participle, which is exactly this word.
- 21. challenging
**A reduction in the occurrence of earworms** is **less likely ... to hear the music**, and **how ... the task was** is the activity getting more **challenging**. The more challenging the activity, the fewer earworms.
- 22. D
The musicians who create **intentionally memorable** music are the **producers** who **pump pop songs full of hooks**, **designed to** leave the brain wanting more. The author who writes about this is John Seabrook.
- 23. A
**Unable to completely regulate how they think** is the opposite of **full control over our thought processes**, which is called **an illusion**. The person who says it is Lauren Stewart.
- 24. B
**Without knowing that we have heard them** becomes tunes we **didn't pay attention to** that still **worm their way into your subconscious**. The person who says this is Ira Hyman.
- 25. C
**Thinking about music** is **deliberately imagining music**, and **a similar effect on the brain** is activating **many of the same neurological networks** as listening. This is Andrea Halpern's imaging work.
- 26. B
**Only a short section ... constantly replayed** is a **fragment** that repeats like a broken record, and **more persistent** is **more entrenched**. The person who says this is Dr Hyman. Zeigarnik appears next, but she is not in the list.