ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

and Pressley, 1999), little is known about how these processes may mediate the complementary ability to prevent successful memory. Addressing this question is thus important for a comprehensive theory of memory and its development, as well as to draw interest-ing connections with other domains of psychology, such as coping and emotion regulation. A growing body of research documents that with development children acquire increasingly sophisticated notions about mind control (Flavell, 1999), and about the cognitive strategies that can be used to cope with stressors. For instance, the frequency with which participants report using coping strategies capitalizing on cognitive distraction, such as diversionary thinking or attempts to forget a stressor, increases from middle childhood to adolescence (e.g., Altshuler and Ruble, 1989; Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck, 2007). These observations suggest that the ability to exert control over memory retrieval develops during middle childhood years. However, the developmental trajectory of the capacity to actively prevent unwanted information from entering conscious-ness, and its effects on long-term memory are unknown. Thus, the present research offers a window into the developmental progres-sion of the ability to regulate memory retrieval and into further examinations of its neurodevelopmental underpinnings. To examine the development of intentional memory suppression, we used a child-friendly version of the TNT paradigm (Anderso