The cognitive-reserve hypothesis is a concept that has been proposed to account for findings that the brains of certain individuals with pathological Alzheimer's disease burden are somehow able to compensate and minimize the effect of this burden on cognitive function. It's been suggested that greater abilities in thinking, learning, and memory—which can result in part from regularly challenging the brain—makes some individuals less susceptible to the damage caused by the disease. Education is commonly used as a surrogate for cognitive function in investigations of this hypothesis.
PREVIEW