A good movie line is the best kind of earworm — but have you ever wondered how these quotes get stuck in your head in the first place?

By analyzing upwards of 2,000 oft-quoted movie lines, a team of computer scientists says it's uncovered how word choice and sentence structure give rise to cinema's most memorable soundbites. Their findings, they say, could even be used to fine tune the catchphrases of tomorrow.

The researchers' results are presented in an entertaining and approachable article titled "You had me at hello: how phrasing affects memorability." It is definitely worth checking out when you have the time, but the gist of the study is as follows:...