Violation of the validity assumptions of repeated measures analysis of variance continues to be a problem in psychophysiology. Such violation results in positive bias for those tests involving the repeated measures factor(s), Recently it has been shown that the tests of simple interactions and multiple comparisons are even more vulnerable to bias (Boik. 1981; Mitzel & Games, 1981). The present paper offers a discussion of the validity assumptions for both overall and sub‐effect tests and describes a multivariate approach which allows exact analysis of such designs. A modification of the univariate approach is also described. Validity concerns for both approaches are much less problematic than those of the traditional approach.

This article discusses converging evidence from developmental, clinical, and cognitive psychology suggesting that there is significant overlap between research findings on affect, temperament, and attentional processes associated with pathological anxiety. We offer a proposal for the integration of these 3 areas aimed at developing a more clear understanding of the developmental sequence and operative mechanisms in the dysregulation of negative affect and the development of symptoms of anxiety pathology. We review evidence for a model indicating that reactive and effortful temperamental processes, possibly mediated by an attentional bias toward threat-relevant information, interact to produce problems of dysregulated negative affect and elevated levels of pathological anxiety. This model may assist in understanding the development of anxiety disorders, identifying children at risk for such disorders, and selecting points of entry for both preventative and curative interventions.

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Sequential sampling models provide an alternative to traditional analyses of reaction times and accuracy in two-choice tasks. These models are reviewed with particular focus on the diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978) and how its application can aide research on clinical disorders. The advantages of a diffusion model analysis over traditional comparisons are shown through simulations and a simple lexical decision experiment. Application of the diffusion model to a clinically-relevant topic is demonstrated through an analysis of data from nonclinical participants with high-and low-trait anxiety in a recognition memory task. The model showed that after committing an error, participants with high trait anxiety responded more cautiously by increasing their boundary separation, whereas participants with low trait anxiety did not. The article concludes with suggestions for ways to improve and broaden the application of these models to studies of clinical disorders.Techniques and models from cognitive psychology are being used with increasing frequency in investigations of psychopathology and clinical disorders (e.g., McFall, Treat, & Viken, 1997;McNally & Reese, 2009;Treat & Dirks, 2007). These methods and models play a significant role in elucidating the abnormal cognitive processes that are associated with such disorders. In this article we demonstrate how a theory of cognitive processing can enhance cognitive-clinical interactions and lead to a better understanding of the cognitive effects of psychopathologies like depression and anxiety. The focus is on the use of sequential sampling models to analyze data from two-choice response time (RT) tasks. The article is structured as follows: We briefly review some areas in which two-choice tasks have been employed to investigate cognitive processing in anxiety and depression. We then show through simulations and a simple lexical decision experiment how a sequential sampling model, Ratcliff's diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978;Ratcliff, Van Zandt, & McKoon, 1999), can improve analyses of twochoice tasks by decomposing accuracy and RT distributions into distinct components of processing. Application of the diffusion model to a clinically-relevant topic is then demonstrated through analysis of recognition memory data from subclinical participants with high-and low-trait anxiety to assess changes in decision criteria that result from committing an error. The article concludes with discussion of areas of potential improvement for the application of sampling models like the diffusion model to inform clinical research. Two-Choice Tasks and Clinical ResearchThe focus of this article is two-choice tasks to which sequential sampling models can be applied. These tasks involve a fast (typically less than two seconds), one-process decision and