THE INFLUENCE OF GAMING EXPERIENCE ON THE PERCEPTION OF NEGATIVE CONCEPTS (USING THE CONCEPTS OF BAD, DEATH AND EVIL AS AN EXAMPLE)

The comprehensive impact of computer games on human cognitive abilities and physiological characteristics is beyond doubt due to the extensive study of the issue. In a number of works by both domestic (E. V. Galanina, K. N. Dedulin, N. A. Silantyev, V. V. Ermolaeva) and foreign (E. Evans, K. Naugle, A. Ovispo, A. Kaleth, B. Arnold) researchers, the potential of using games as a means of stress relief is noted. In this regard, the article puts forward a hypothesis according to which the gaming experience has a relaxing effect on the recipients, which can be traced at the linguistic level, since the linguistic consciousness of a person depends on social influence. The supposed effect of computer games on human perception can be detected by studying associative fields obtained as reactions to negative stimulus words. It is possible to track the presence of an impact by comparing the experimentally obtained associative fields with some average "norm", which is the "Slavic Associative Dictionary". The main research method is an associative experiment, which was used to obtain the reactions of the subjects to a number of negative concepts - bad, death and evil, which are part of the linguistic core of native Russian speakers. During the experiment, the reactions of 31 respondents playing computer games were collected. The results of processing the obtained data did not allow us to unequivocally confirm the preliminary hypothesis put forward by us at the beginning of the study about the relaxation effect of games on humans. The perception of concepts in comparison with the data of associative dictionaries has undergone changes. The scope of the topics covered has narrowed, from where associations are borrowed, and the newest group of reactions is highlighted, directly caused by the influence of the Internet space and gaming experience on human consciousness. We have noted the tendency of recipients who are fond of computer games to rationalize the negative, to perceive it more neutrally. Based on the analysis of the results of the experiment, it became clear that the vocabulary of online discourse penetrates into the linguistic consciousness of respondents who play computer games and consider themselves to be part of the gaming community, and is reflected in their imaginative thinking.