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According to the theory of cognitive reserve, the quality and quantity of experiences throughout life develop an individual’s ability to cope with aging processes in the brain (Stern, 2009). Those with more extensive experiences are better equipped to reorganize task salient networks and maintain normal cognitive abilities in the presence of accumulating age-related neuropathology (brain aging) (Stern, 2009; Stern et al., 2020). The theory predicts that individuals with a high cognitive reserve are able to endure the more age-related neuropathology for longer without presenting symptoms of cognitive decline (Stern, 2009; Stern et al., 2020). On the other hand, individuals with low cognitive reserve are likely to present symptoms of cognitive decline sooner and in the presence of less age-related neuropathology. Since cognitive reserve is a dynamic concept that develops over the course of the lifespan, assessing cognitive reserve in young individuals might not lead to important findings due to their relatively few life experiences. Therefore, the concept is best applied to people over the age of 65 since they have accumulated many life experiences. Cognitive reserve can be measured through proxies of life experience such as occupation, education and social activities; these compose the life experiences that mediate the relationship between cognitive abilities in later life and the age-related changes in the structure and function of the brain (Stern, 2009; Stern, 2020). Critically, the proxy for the cognitive reserve (life experiences) has been treated as a mediator in the relationship between cognitive abilities and brain aging. However, it is possible that the cognitive reserve moderates the relationship between cognitive abilities and brain aging (Stern, 2017). Furthermore, since the development of brain structures are most sensitive to the environmental context in youth (Schoentgen et al., 2020) analyzing the relative influence of life experiences in each phase of life on cognitive abilities could reveal that life experiences in youth are most critical to cognitive abilities in old age. The purpose of this research will be to analyze the moderating and predictive effect of life experiences on the relationship between cognitive abilities and brain aging. |
