The Role of Executive Function and Theory of Mind in Pragmatic Computations

In sentences such as “Some dogs are mammals,” the literal semantic meaning (“Some and possibly all mammals”) conflicts with pragmatic (“Not known a scalar implicature). Prior work has shown that adults vary widely in extent to which they adopt or of utterances, yet underlying reason for this variation is unknown. Drawing on theoretical models implicature derivation, we explore hypothesis cognitive abilities executive function (EF) theory mind (ToM) contribute observed variation. Experiment 1, show individuals better ToM more likely compute an utterance; however, EF makes no unique contribution comprehension after accounting ToM. 2, replicate finding assess whether it generalizes other phenomena indirect requests (e.g., “It's hot here” uttered ask something be done) metaphor “to harvest courage”). This first evidence differences associated competence neurotypical across distinct phenomena.