diff --git a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
index f991a9b..27180c8 100644
--- a/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
+++ b/IPython/html/static/notebook/js/widgets/widget.js
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ function(WidgetManager, _, Backbone){
                     // Send buffer if this message caused another message to be
                     // throttled.
                     if (this.msg_buffer !== null &&
-                        this.get('msg_throttle') || 3 === this.pending_msgs) {
+                        (this.get('msg_throttle') || 3) === this.pending_msgs) {
                         var data = {method: 'backbone', sync_method: 'update', sync_data: this.msg_buffer};
                         this.comm.send(data, callbacks);
                         this.msg_buffer = null;
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ function(WidgetManager, _, Backbone){
                 var callbacks = options.callbacks || this.callbacks();
 
                 // Check throttle.
-                if (this.pending_msgs >= this.get('msg_throttle') || 3) {
+                if (this.pending_msgs >= (this.get('msg_throttle') || 3)) {
                     // The throttle has been exceeded, buffer the current msg so
                     // it can be sent once the kernel has finished processing 
                     // some of the existing messages.