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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Cogn Sci. 2013 Sep 7;17(10):10.1016/j.tics.2013.08.012. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.08.012

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Representation of how cognitive reserve may mediate between AD pathology and its clinical expression based on epidemiological and imaging studies. The x-axis represents AD pathology, slowly increasing over time. The y-axis represents cognitive function. We assume that AD pathology increases over time at the same rate in two individuals with high and low reserve. The amount of pathology needed before cognitive function is affected is greater with higher CR, leading to a later change point [91, 92]. It follows that more pathology will be needed for the person with higher CR to meet clinical diagnostic criteria for AD, thus delaying the onset of the disease. Also, at any level of cognitive performance, AD pathology will be more severe in the individual with higher CR [27, 93]. Once cognitive decline begins, it is more rapid in the person with higher CR [92, 94].

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