Already Perfect: Language Users Access the Pragmatic Meanings of Conditionals First

Conditional statements often have two interpretations. For instance, the statement, “If you mow the lawn, you will receive $5”, might be understood to mean that mowing the lawn is just one possible way to earn $5 or, more strongly, that mowing the lawn is the only way one can receive $5 – an interpretation sometimes called Conditional Perfection. We investigated how people arrive at “perfected” interpretations of conditional statements: whether they initially consider a statement's literal meaning and then perfect it or begin with a perfected interpretation and revert to the weaker meaning only when necessary. Reaction time data from Experiment 1 supports the latter sequence, as evidenced by the longer time required to arrive at literal interpretations than perfected ones. Additionally, in Experiment 2, we found that participants under cognitive load were more likely to perfect conditional statements relative to participants not under load, again suggesting that people begin with a perfected meaning that is optionally canceled with effort.