I tend to think it follows scenario 1.
In other words, it is that of which you do in your time off, not the fact that you took time off that gets you in medical school.
It is assumed that by the committee that if they've accepted you, that you are mature and able to handle the responsibility of medicine. Some people mature at a quicker age then others. Others are not ready at a young age but then find they want to go back to medical school later on. It is not the fact that they are 3 or 4 or 5 or 10+ years older then they were in undergrad that made them mature. It is how they spent their time between college days and their current return to school that shows their maturity, compassion, and devotion.
Hence, it is important to do something productive in a year off and not just sit around being lazy all the time, whether it is volunteering one day a week, going on a mission trip, traveling for the sake of traveling, etc.
Med schools want to know what you do both on a nonmedical and medical level due to need for diversity and wanting to get to know the whole applicant. Therefore, if you take a year off, it only looks good if you do something productive that you could talk about should it come about in an interview.
