Mauti Marika, Monachesi Bianca, Taccari Giovanni, Rumiati Raffaella I
Neuroscience and Society Laboratory, Neuroscience Area, SISSA, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Neuroscience and Society Laboratory, Neuroscience Area, SISSA, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Brain Cogn. 2024 Dec;182:106238. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106238. Epub 2024 Nov 9.
Cognitive reserve (CR) explains the varying trajectories of cognitive decline in healthy and pathological ageing. CR is often operationalized in terms of socio-behavioural proxies that modulate cognitive performance. Individuals with higher CR are known to maintain better cognitive functions, but evidence on the underlying brain activity remains scattered. Here we review CR studies using functional MRI in young, healthy and pathologically elderly individuals. We focus on the two potential neural mechanisms of CR, neural reserve (efficiency of brain networks) and neural compensation (recruitment of additional brain regions), and the effect of different proxies on them. The results suggest increased task-related activity in different cognitive domains with age and compensation in case of difficult task and pathology. The effects of proxies lead to increased neural reserve (reduced brain activity) in both older and younger individuals. Their relationship with compensation remains unclear, largely due to the lack of young adult samples, particularly in clinical studies. These findings underscore the critical role of lifelong engagement in mentally enriching activities for preserving cognitive function during aging. New studies are encouraged to refine the CR theoretical and empirical framework, particularly regarding the measurement of socio-behavioral proxies and their relationship with cognitive decline and neural underpinning.
认知储备（CR）解释了健康老龄化和病理性老龄化过程中认知衰退的不同轨迹。CR通常通过调节认知表现的社会行为代理指标来操作化。已知具有较高CR的个体能维持更好的认知功能，但关于潜在大脑活动的证据仍然零散。在此，我们回顾了在年轻、健康和病理性老年个体中使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的CR研究。我们关注CR的两种潜在神经机制，即神经储备（脑网络效率）和神经补偿（额外脑区的募集），以及不同代理指标对它们的影响。结果表明，随着年龄增长，不同认知领域与任务相关的活动增加，在任务困难和存在病理情况时会出现补偿。代理指标的作用导致老年和年轻个体的神经储备增加（大脑活动减少）。它们与补偿的关系仍不明确，这主要是由于缺乏年轻成人样本，尤其是在临床研究中。这些发现强调了终身参与丰富精神活动对于在衰老过程中保持认知功能的关键作用。鼓励开展新的研究来完善CR的理论和实证框架，特别是关于社会行为代理指标的测量及其与认知衰退和神经基础的关系。
