The thing I tried to hint at is this: When you approach an incline, you'll naturally push down the pedal to keep your speed. Thus, even if you don't articulate

The thing I tried to hint at is this: When you approach an incline, you'll naturally push down the pedal to keep your speed. Thus, even if you don't articulate it that way, your model of the gas pedal has nothing to do with acceleration. Yes, "intake manifold" is ridiculous, I grant that, but it's much more likely that the model people develop has to do with something like "effort".