From Analogue to Digital Experiences: Rethinking Cognitive Reserve in Older Adults

The construct of cognitive reserve (CR) has traditionally been grounded in analogue life-course indicators, including years of education, occupational complexity, lifestyle, and cognitively stimulating activities. However, the rapid digital transformation of recent decades has introduced a pervasive environmental factor that may reshape the experiences through which CR is built: sustained interaction with digital technologies. This narrative review examines the emerging relationship between CR and digital experiences, with particular attention to heterogeneity within the older population. We distinguish between older adults whose adult and working lives were predominantly analogue, currently in their eighties, and new older adults, currently in their sixties and seventies, who encountered digital technologies during adulthood and progressively integrated them into their personal and professional lives. Available evidence suggests that engagement with digital environments may be associated with better executive functioning, attention, visuospatial abilities, and memory, although most studies are observational. Existing CR instruments, developed within a predominantly analogue framework, do not systematically capture these experiences. We therefore propose an integrated analogue–digital model of CR, in which digital experiences expand rather than replace traditional reserve dimensions. Within this model, we introduce Digital Cognitive Reserve (DCR) as a framework for assessing digital experiences as possible proxies of reserve and outline four preliminary dimensions (digital exposure, diversity, cognitive complexity, and adaptability), together with testable predictions that may inform future studies and assessment tools. Longitudinal, psychometric, and neurobiological studies are needed to test whether digital experiences contribute to cognitive resilience and to guide technology-based interventions tailored to cohort-specific profiles.