There are two ways that the brakes are connected with the running of the engine.
The first way is by the vacuum hose. Pumping the brakes "uses up" vacuum, and
some air gets sucked out of the booster and into the intake manifold. If this tiny
amount of air did anythng at all, it would slightly raise the idle speed.
The second way is by the brake lights. Pumping the brakes switches the lights on
and off. When the brake lights switch on the diode box should open the electric
engine idle-up valve to raise the engine speed 100 rpm or so. If this does not
happen, then the stop lights will be drawing power and loading up the alternator.
Maybe that's enough to drag the engine rpm down ? You could try hooking your
multimeter up to the battery, and seeing what happens when someone pumps the
brakes... best I can come up with
Cheers... jondee86