Affiliations: [a] Brain Investigation and Neuromodulation Lab, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology Section, University of Siena, Italy
| [b] Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Division of Cognitive Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Emiliano Santarnecchi, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 BrooklineAve (KS 158), Boston, MA, 02215, USA. Tel.: +1 617 667 0307; Fax: +1 617 975 5322; E-mail: esantarn@bidmc.harvard.edu.
Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract: Comforts in modern society have generally been associated with longer survival rates, enabling individuals to reach advanced age as never before in history. With the increase in longevity, however, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease, has also doubled. Nevertheless, most of the observed variance, in terms of time of clinical diagnosis and progression, often remains striking. Only recently, differences in the social, educational and occupational background of the individual, as proxies of cognitive reserve (CR), have been hypothesized to play a role in accounting for such discrepancies. CR is a well-established concept in literature; lots of studies have been conducted in trying to better understand its underlying neural substrates and associated biomarkers, resulting in an incredible amount of data being produced. Here, we aimed to summarize recent relevant published work addressing the issue, gathering evidence for the existence of a common path across research efforts that might ease future investigations by providing a general perspective on the actual state of the arts. An innovative model is hereby proposed, addressing the role of CR across structural and functional evidences, as well as the potential implementation of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques in the causal validation of such theoretical frame.
Keywords: Aging, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive reserve, diffusion tensor imaging, electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, transcranial magnetic stimulation
