CRS

The concept of Cognitive Reserve arises with the need to explain the individual differences that are observed when people face neurologically or cognitively adverse conditions (dementia, epilepsy, brain damage, etc.) or even when facing aging itself to a situation of stress.

Genetic, environmental, behavioural factors can be found in the explanation for this variability.

The Reserve that an individual possesses is determined by his brain reserve (genetic, anatomical, etc.) and his cognitive reserve (environment, behaviour, etc.), that is, the quantity and quality of knowledge, hobbies, educational level is to contribute during life to greater brain plasticity and increase the ability to establish new or reinforce synaptic connections.

Several research works have been published in which it is shown that the participants with low levels of cognitive reserve needed a greater cerebral effort than those who had a higher level. This extra effort is associated with poorer cognitive efficiency since the person in question uses more energy and more brain connections than necessary. Thus, participants with low reserve have greater neuronal connectivity in the anterior (prefrontal) and posterior (temporal, parietal, and occipital) brain regions, compared to those with a high reserve.

However, this concept is clearly relevant, how is it measured? What factors does it involve? How much reservation do I have? We have designed this scale that allows us to assess the reserve score at different stages of life and to provide a value and a proposal for improvement based on the score.