The Oblique Effect of Stimulus Identification Considered with Respect to Two Classes of Oblique Effects

Two classes of oblique effects are proposed. Oblique effects demonstrated in paradigms reflecting the basic functioning of the visual system are termed class 1, and those obtained in paradigms reflecting stimulus encoding and memory are termed class 2. The present experiments examine the class 2 oblique effect that has been obtained on reaction time (RT) tasks. Three RT tasks with different response requirements (identification, detection, and classification) were conducted to determine the basic conditions necessary for the production of the class 2 RT oblique effect. The results indicate that the source of the class 2 oblique effect obtained in RT paradigms is a greater confusability between the 45 degrees oblique lines than between the horizontal and vertical lines when identification of orientation is required.