CONCEPTUAL INTEGRATION UNDER THE OPTICS OF ECOLOGICAL COGNITION IN RPG
reframing, situational models, roleplaying games, frame.
This master thesis investigates how the experiences of our physical and situational environment are present in the phenomenon of conceptual integration (FAUCONNIER; TURNER, 2002) during the production of discourse in the role-playing games (RPG). In this game, the participant should make use of a discourse based on simulations (BARSALOU, 1999) for the formation of meaning. In RPG, the player uses a complex network of concept integration for conceptual negotiation. To do so, the player uses strategies to integrate previous concepts with new situations and create totally different ones from what initially thought to suit the game. The research demonstrates how RPG players absorb a new concept that must be created ad hoc (BARSALOU, 1983) to supply their understanding needs by entering not only the surface of the text but by performing a mental simulation (BARSALOU, 1999). During the process, the participant performs a simulative immersion through situational models (ZWAAN; RADVANSKY, 1998) specially created to meet the conceptual demand required in the game and entering "on the character’s skin". Due to the motor resonance (ZWAAN; TAYLOR, 2006) required in cognitive recruitment during the conceptual integration process, we believe the players use ecological strategies to achieve their goals (DUQUE, 2015, 2016). The research takes as a method the explicative and empirical-analytical process in a qualitative way in order to review the current theory of conceptual integration in the Cognitive Linguistics area. The results suggest that the physical and environmental bias is greater than expected in an integration of concepts than the mere correlation of analogues and compressions of vital relationships, which immanently shows the ecological character of our cognition in this type of phenomenon.