Suppressing Emotional Memories in Adolescents: Evidence from an Autobiographical Think/No-Think Task

Retrieval stopping, the intentional suppression of unwanted memories, plays a critical role in emotion regulation and cognitive control, yet little is known about its function in adolescence. Using an autobiographical Think/No-Think paradigm, we investigated whether adolescents can control the retrieval of personal emotional events. Forty-nine adolescent participants (13-17) generated positive and negative autobiographical memories for retrieval or suppression in the Think/No-Think task. Memory accuracy and vividness were assessed before and after. Adolescents showed suppression-induced forgetting: negative memories were recalled less accurately and more slowly. Vividness ratings declined for suppressed memories, but not significantly more than negative baseline memories, suggesting a spill-over effect of retrieval stopping to all negative memories, rather than an effect confined to the suppressed negative memories. Overall, the results provide evidence that adolescents can intentionally suppress autobiographical emotional memories. These findings extend investigations in adults by showing inhibitory control over memory retrieval is functional during adolescence, a critical period for emotion regulation. The flexibility that the autobiographical TNT task offers allows it to be extended to fears or worries, offering a promising avenue for applied research. Future research should examine its potential as a scalable, low-cost supplement to therapy, supporting emotion regulation and mental health in youth.