ABSTRACT
Cognitive Reserve (CR) is commonly understood as protection against the clinical manifestation of disease processes in the brain. Proxy measures of CR include education, occupational complexity and participation in cognitively stimulating activities. Evidence for the preventive effects of cognitive activity across the lifespan is outlined at three levels of a dementia prevention hierarchy (primary, secondary and tertiary). Theoretical approaches to CR and its underlying mechanisms are reviewed and links between cognitive protective factors and cognitive control are discussed, with a particular focus on the modifiability of control processes and the implications of this in dementia prevention.
