Cognitive reserve is the idea that some people’s brains can overcome damage caused by disorders such as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease due to their ability to function more efficiently or use alternative parts of the brain. It may explain why some people with advanced Alzheimer’s never showed symptoms while alive. Factors associated with a large cognitive reserve include a high IQ and engaging in intellectual pursuits.
Cognitive reserve is an idea that was developed to explain why two people can suffer similar amounts of brain damage but end up with different levels of brain function. Researchers have suggested that cognitive reserve may be higher in some people’s brains than others, allowing them to overcome the damage caused by disorders such as stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. While researchers aren’t sure exactly how it manifests itself, cognitive reserve could result from the brain functioning more efficiently than usual. An alternative mechanism could be that, if necessary, some people’s brains are able to employ areas that are not normally used.
When researchers first noticed that the brains of two different people could have the same amount of neuropathological damage, yet one person seemed to function better than the other, a theory was developed regarding something called brain reserve. Brain reserve concerns the size of a person’s brain before the injury, and the theory is that the larger the brain and the more nerve cells available, the better a person can cope with brain damage. This theory does not take into account the way an individual’s brain works and its ability to adapt, so the theory of cognitive reserve was developed.
The cognitive reserve hypothesis suggests that some people’s brains are able to solve problems and process information more efficiently than others. Additionally, some may be able to use alternative parts of the brain, not normally used by most people, to perform certain tasks. One or both of these factors could be giving people a spare capacity in the brain, which kicks in when part of the brain is lost to injury or disease.
This may explain why, after death, some people are found to have had brain changes associated with advanced Alzheimer’s, but never showed symptoms of the disease while they were alive. Researchers think Alzheimer’s may appear later in people with high cognitive reserve, even though their brains may show the same damage as those of people with lower cognitive reserve, in whom the disease became evident earlier. Because people with high cognitive reserve may be able to cope with the relatively advanced changes of Alzheimer’s before they lose brain function, this could mean that by the time the disease is finally diagnosed, they can rapidly worsen.
Having a large cognitive reserve is associated with certain factors such as having a high IQ and taking part in a large number of interests and activities. Cognitive research is thought to change over a lifetime, as a person’s lifestyle changes. Those who continue to engage in new activities and pursue intellectual pursuits will tend to maintain a high reserve, while those who stop using their brains may find their reserve diminishes.
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