Between a conditional's antecedent and its consequent: Discourse coherence vs. probabilistic relevance.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Linguistics
• Philosophy of Language

Background:

• Reasoning with conditional statements is fundamental to human cognition.
• The interpretation of conditionals, especially 'missing-link' examples, is debated.
• Existing theories often attribute oddities in conditionals to pragmatic factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of connection in conditional statements.
• To disentangle discourse coherence from probabilistic relevance.
• To test whether discourse coherence alone is sufficient for assertability.

Main Methods:

• Experimental study design.
• Manipulation of discourse coherence and probabilistic relevance.
• Assessment of conditional assertability.

Main Results:

• Mere discourse coherence is insufficient for making conditionals assertable.
• Probabilistic relevance plays a crucial role in the acceptance of conditionals.
• Findings challenge pragmatic accounts that rely solely on coherence.

Conclusions:

• Conditional statements require a stronger connection than mere discourse coherence.
• Probabilistic relevance is a key factor in understanding and asserting conditionals.
• This research provides empirical evidence for the importance of connection in conditional reasoning.