The Think/No‐Think Alcohol Task: A New Paradigm for Assessing Memory Suppression in Alcohol‐Related Contexts

Abstract

Background: Research with the Think/No-Think (TNT) task has shown that voluntary suppression of an unwanted memory may lead to its later forgetting. To date, however, no study has assessed the memory suppression abilities in alcohol-related contexts despite the potential implications that it might have for alcohol research. With this aim, we developed a new version of the TNT paradigm, the TNT Alcohol (TNTA) task, which consists of 36 neutral pictures paired with 36 alcohol/no-alcohol images that are instructed to be suppressed or recollected.Methods: Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from 64 electrodes while 20 young healthy females performed the TNTA task. The event-related potentials (ERPs) typically involved in memory suppression/recollection were analyzed, namely the fronto-central N2, the late parietal positivity (LPP), and the frontal slow wave (FSW).Results: Findings revealed reduced recall for previously learned images that were subsequently instructed to be suppressed (No-Think) relative to those instructed to be retrieved (Think) and those not cued to be suppressed or retrieved (Baseline). This reduction seemed to be more prominent for alcohol-related memories. In addition, ERP analysis showed that compared to attempts of recollection, attempts of memory suppression were associated with attenuated LPP amplitude-more pronounced for alcohol-related memories-(indicating reduced conscious recollection for No-Think images) as well as with increased FSW (suggesting strategic control aiming at decrease accessibility of unwanted memories).Conclusions: These results replicate and extend previously reported behavioral and ERP findings in the TNT paradigm and suggest that the TNTA task may be a useful instrument to measure the ability to suppress alcohol-related memories.

Forgetting Alcohol: A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial Investigating Memory Inhibition Training in Young Binge Drinkers

“…The TNTA task is a version of the classical Think/No-Think paradigm ( Anderson and Green, 2001 ), which was specially developed to examine MI mechanisms in alcohol-related contexts ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ; see Figure 3 ). This task includes thirty-six pictures (18 related to alcohol and 18 non-related to alcohol) from the Galician Beverage Picture Set (GBPS; López-Caneda and Carbia, 2018 ) and 36 images of neutral objects obtained from the POPORO database ( Kovalenko et al, 2012 ).…”

“…To quantify the ERP data, we will calculate the mean amplitudes for each electrode in several time-windows, selected based on previous findings (e.g., López-Caneda et al, 2019b ) and on the visual inspection of the ERP waveforms (predictably, 200–400 ms and 600–1,000 ms for fronto-central locations and 400–700 ms for parietal locations). We will use this selection in order to quantify the N2, FSW, and LPP components: to explore the N2 and the FSW amplitudes, we will extract the ERP data from six electrodes placed at left (F3, FC3), midline (Fz, FCz), and right (F4, FC4) frontal regions and to study the LPP component, the ERP data will be extracted from the following scalp electrodes: left parietal (P3, PO3), midline parietal (Pz, POz), and right parietal (P4, PO4).…”

“…Growing research has also revealed that forgetting previously learned material involves DLPFC action, which reduces the hippocampus activity and, consequently, impairs memory retrieval ( Anderson et al, 2004 ; Anderson and Hanslmayr, 2014 ). Recently, López-Caneda and colleagues developed the Think/No-Think Alcohol (TNTA) task, a paradigm aiming to examine the behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms linked to MI in alcohol-related contexts ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ). The authors found lower late parietal positivity (LPP) and increased frontal slow wave (FSW) during No-Think trials, suggesting the involvement of memory suppression mechanisms to drinking (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) contexts ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ).…”

“…Recently, López-Caneda and colleagues developed the Think/No-Think Alcohol (TNTA) task, a paradigm aiming to examine the behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms linked to MI in alcohol-related contexts ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ). The authors found lower late parietal positivity (LPP) and increased frontal slow wave (FSW) during No-Think trials, suggesting the involvement of memory suppression mechanisms to drinking (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) contexts ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ).…”

“…However, to best of our knowledge, no study has explored the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying MI neither in alcohol-dependent patients nor in BDs. Thus, based on the evidence that the TNTA paradigm may be a valuable instrument to measure the ability to suppress alcohol-related memories ( López-Caneda et al, 2019b ), in the present study we will use this task to evaluate the potential electrophysiological and behavioral abnormalities associated with MI, specifically those related to the suppression of alcohol-related memories in young BDs. For this purpose, the electrophysiological activity of 45 college BDs and 45 age-matched non/low-drinkers will be assessed while they perform the TNTA task (pre-training EEG assessment).…”