An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music, Rhythm, and Social Communication in the Digital Age: From Phenomenology to Embodied Cognition

Justyna Herda

doi:10.18290/rf26743.8

Published : 2026-09-30

Vol. 74 No. 3 (2026)

An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music, Rhythm, and Social Communication in the Digital Age: From Phenomenology to Embodied Cognition

Justyna Herda

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6775-6385

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26743.8

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present an interdisciplinary approach to the relationship between music, rhythm, and embodied cognition, and to outline the role of rhythmic synchronization as a factor regulating the formation of social bonds in the contemporary world, saturated with new technologies.

This proposed framework integrates three research perspectives—neuroscientific, phenomenological, and sociocultural—to develop a model in which music and rhythmic activities become tools for restoring community in society, thereby counteracting the isolation caused by the increasing digitization of social communication. Shared rhythmic activities integrate movement, attention, emotions, and social relationships, constituting a natural mechanism for integrating individuals into groups. Collective music-making may therefore serve as a neurobiological regulator of co-presence and social bonding.

The theoretical framework underpinning the considerations presented in this article is defined by a phenomenological approach on the one hand and the theory of embodied cognition on the other, as well as by the neurocognitive foundations of social cognition theory. The phenomenological approach assumes that meaning and cognition are grounded in first-person embodied experience. Accordingly, the explanations formulated within this framework do not appeal to mental representations and their abstract processing, but rather to direct cognition arising through the experiences and actions of embodied agents in the world.

Keywords:

rthythm, music, embodied cognition, social bonding, communication, phenomenology

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Herda, J. (2026). An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music, Rhythm, and Social Communication in the Digital Age: From Phenomenology to Embodied Cognition. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 74(3), 187–205. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26743.8

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