Why do we struggle to ‘hear’ another song in our heads whilst another song is simultaneously being playing aloud in the background?

Question

I don’t know if this is a universal thing or just me, but I suspect there are many others that experience this same phenomenon. Even if a song is already firmly ingrained in my head and I know it like the back of my hand, as soon as another song is being played out loud in the background – even if it’s one I have no interest in or am not consciously paying attention to – I will ‘forget’ how the first one goes (by that I mean usually my mind goes blank when trying to recall the melody or chord progression).

Is there a fundamental reason for this? Perhaps it’s somehow a quirk linked to our ancient survival instincts whereby the human brain stops whatever it was doing to instead focus on auditory stimuli (i.e. potential threats) in the surrounding environment? Or maybe some of our brains just aren’t powerful enough to focus well enough on two songs playing at once, in the same way that it’s hard to focus on two or more conversations people around you are having?

In: Biology

Answer 1

What you’re describing is a form of cognitive interference. Basically, you are experiencing difficulty with recall from long term memory because your current cognitive experience is interfering with your ability to recall that specific memory.

In the case of the song, rhythm and rhyming lyrics have always had a very strong influence on the human mind’s ability to recall from long term memory. For millennia human knowledge was passed down strictly from memory in this form. It’s effective at engaging and enforcing memory, which is part of why hearing it prevents us from recalling anything except what we’re listening to right now.

We experience cognitive interference in other ways, like when we’re exhausted or really hungry or very stressed about something. We find it hard to effectively recall from long term memory any time there’s something occupying our cognitive experience. People who experience bad tinnitus, for example, tend to experience declines in memory recall.

You can overcome this difficulty through practice. Practicing cognitive recall in different conditions can improve your ability to perform. Broadway performers, for example, become adept at singing one song while another performer sings a different song right beside them at the same time.