The Protective Role of Memory Suppression in Psychological Resilience among Young Adults with Childhood Trauma

The Protective Role of Memory Suppression in Psychological Resilience among Young Adults with Childhood Trauma | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Protective Role of Memory Suppression in Psychological Resilience among Young Adults with Childhood Trauma Jie Shi, Xiangwen Chang, Zhengyu Yang, Zhen Liu, Shi-Qiu Meng, and 9 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The mechanisms underlying psychological resilience following childhood trauma remain unclear. This study investigated whether memory suppression—the ability to voluntarily inhibit unwanted memories—serves as a key mechanism promoting resilience, and examined its neural correlates. An online survey of 2,914 students assessed childhood trauma, resilience, and memory suppression ability, revealing that suppression ability fully mediated the trauma–resilience relationship. Subsequently, 91 participants (grouped by trauma exposure and resilience levels) underwent fMRI during a Think/No-Think task. Behaviorally, high-resilience individuals exhibited superior memory suppression. Neuroimaging identified the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) as a critical neural substrate, showing enhanced suppression-related activity in high-resilience individuals and mediating the association between suppression performance and resilience. Additionally, the left IPS displayed increased functional connectivity with cognitive control regions and decreased connectivity with memory-related regions during suppression. These results establish memory suppression as a central component of resilience and highlight the left IPS as a key neural adaptor, suggesting its potential as a target for clinical intervention. Biological sciences/Neuroscience Biological sciences/Psychology Full Text Additional Declarations The authors have declared there is NO conflict of interest to disclose Supplementary Files FinalSupplementarymaterial.docx Supplemental material Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 16 Mar, 2026 Review # 3 received at journal 12 Mar, 2026 Review # 2 received at journal 02 Mar, 2026 Review # 1 received at journal 22 Feb, 2026 Reviewer # 3 agreed at journal 18 Feb, 2026 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 16 Feb, 2026 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 10 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 10 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 16 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 16 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 16 Jan, 2026 Unknown event 13 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8586685","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":589281368,"identity":"fb7984ce-231d-4cb4-9ce0-45faa69bfbcc","order_by":0,"name":"Jie Shi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAzklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCcYGgwQGmwTGBhCPjXgtaSRpAZOHEyA8YrTIz25uKHhQcT6PedoZA4YPZYcZ+Gc34NdicOcg0GFnbhczzs4xYJxx7jCDxJ0DBLRIJDYYJLbdTmwEamHmbTsMFEkg4LAZIC3/zkG0/CVGC8MNkJaGAxAtjMRoMQBpSTiWDPRLWsHBnnPpPBI3CDos/Znhjxq7PMPZyRsf/CizluOfQchhwLgwAJGGDQwMB4A0D0H1QMD8AGwdMUpHwSgYBaNgZAIAhVFHhCl2fGMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6567-8160","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jie","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":589281369,"identity":"c1ca6bea-805b-4453-beae-2cb9b819aaec","order_by":1,"name":"Xiangwen Chang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiangwen","middleName":"","lastName":"Chang","suffix":""},{"id":589281370,"identity":"034118e2-6373-4af6-8f5f-6917419f0c36","order_by":2,"name":"Zhengyu Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhengyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":589281371,"identity":"02ca7fe6-f169-4433-a8b7-2da278053a22","order_by":3,"name":"Zhen Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhen","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":589281372,"identity":"5e3f9574-2674-4b4e-8ba1-98715bfcc44f","order_by":4,"name":"Shi-Qiu Meng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shi-Qiu","middleName":"","lastName":"Meng","suffix":""},{"id":589281373,"identity":"29f62278-5e71-48b3-b9c3-206f0bbbd0b5","order_by":5,"name":"Jiahui Deng","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2025-0336","institution":"Institute of Mental Health/National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders/Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jiahui","middleName":"","lastName":"Deng","suffix":""},{"id":589281374,"identity":"fd5ec7c5-3253-4b78-bf05-753f8fc71063","order_by":6,"name":"Peng Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University Sixth Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Peng","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":589281375,"identity":"73204609-f155-4a64-b39c-f92bf5bba523","order_by":7,"name":"Xiao Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Peking University Sixth Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":589281376,"identity":"630690aa-670b-4db1-a625-2758f62bd97f","order_by":8,"name":"Le Shi","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4750-3492","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Le","middleName":"","lastName":"Shi","suffix":""},{"id":589281377,"identity":"3c0b015c-1203-4d83-821b-1bc294fbf204","order_by":9,"name":"Sanwang Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sanwang","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":589281378,"identity":"6880665a-de47-4a7e-8c72-103a33b4101c","order_by":10,"name":"Tingting Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tingting","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":589281379,"identity":"c17ba904-0b3d-413b-af03-731e213c55b1","order_by":11,"name":"Lin Lu","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0742-9072","institution":"Peking University Sixth Hospital","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lin","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""},{"id":589281380,"identity":"f9e3847f-edde-4f28-9a4d-18d804e620ef","order_by":12,"name":"Tianye Jia","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5399-2953","institution":"Fudan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tianye","middleName":"","lastName":"Jia","suffix":""},{"id":589281381,"identity":"221f803f-9ef7-44a5-85d9-df9d4adf8e39","order_by":13,"name":"Yan Sun","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0443-6309","institution":"Peking University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-13 03:15:20","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102749310,"identity":"0522eeb2-3db6-4e87-b9b0-1bc7da0cda71","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-16 09:12:22","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":984002,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"FinalMemorysuppressionbenefitspsychologicalresilience16Jan2026.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8586685/v1_covered_6da4fe63-6842-4f7e-a3cb-4a2385dcdd81.pdf"},{"id":102736601,"identity":"7bbcb81b-f845-45a3-b19c-bc6ac6cdbfe9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-16 06:30:46","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":326272,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplemental material","description":"","filename":"FinalSupplementarymaterial.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8586685/v1/d4ae75f6c98e6eeed5d8707d.docx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors have declared there is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e conflict of interest to disclose","formattedTitle":"The Protective Role of Memory Suppression in Psychological Resilience among Young Adults with Childhood Trauma","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"molecular-psychiatry","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"mp","sideBox":"Learn more about [Molecular Psychiatry](http://www.nature.com/mp/)","snPcode":"41380","submissionUrl":"https://mts-mp.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"Molecular Psychiatry","twitterHandle":"@molpsychiatry","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The mechanisms underlying psychological resilience following childhood trauma remain unclear. This study investigated whether memory suppression—the ability to voluntarily inhibit unwanted memories—serves as a key mechanism promoting resilience, and examined its neural correlates. An online survey of 2,914 students assessed childhood trauma, resilience, and memory suppression ability, revealing that suppression ability fully mediated the trauma–resilience relationship. Subsequently, 91 participants (grouped by trauma exposure and resilience levels) underwent fMRI during a Think/No-Think task. Behaviorally, high-resilience individuals exhibited superior memory suppression. Neuroimaging identified the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) as a critical neural substrate, showing enhanced suppression-related activity in high-resilience individuals and mediating the association between suppression performance and resilience. Additionally, the left IPS displayed increased functional connectivity with cognitive control regions and decreased connectivity with memory-related regions during suppression. These results establish memory suppression as a central component of resilience and highlight the left IPS as a key neural adaptor, suggesting its potential as a target for clinical intervention.","manuscriptTitle":"The Protective Role of Memory Suppression in Psychological Resilience among Young Adults with Childhood Trauma","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-16 06:30:39","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8586685/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"revise","date":"2026-03-16T10:28:01+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-03-12T16:15:55+00:00","index":3,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-03-02T08:46:35+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-02-22T09:33:57+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-02-18T19:17:10+00:00","index":3,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-02-16T16:35:03+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-02-11T02:12:49+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-11T01:29:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-01-16T15:10:51+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-16T14:35:23+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Molecular Psychiatry","date":"2026-01-16T08:28:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksFailed","content":"","date":"2026-01-13T12:18:31+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"molecular-psychiatry","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"mp","sideBox":"Learn more about [Molecular Psychiatry](http://www.nature.com/mp/)","snPcode":"41380","submissionUrl":"https://mts-mp.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"Molecular Psychiatry","twitterHandle":"@molpsychiatry","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"67caf800-cd2f-4aef-aa8a-2971fb3e171d","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 16th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":62699297,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience"},{"id":62699298,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T13:38:29+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-16 06:30:39","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8586685","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8586685","identity":"rs-8586685","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}