Abstract
BACKGROUND: The concept of Cognitive Reserve has great appeal and has led to an interesting and important body of research. We believe, however, that it is unnecessarily limited by 'habits' of measurement, nomenclature, and intra-disciplinary thinking. MAIN BODY: A broader, more comprehensive way of conceptualizing Reserve is proposed that invokes a broader measurement approach, nomenclature that uses specific terms embedded in a theoretical model, and crosses disciplines. CONCLUSION: Building on this comprehensive conceptualization, we will discuss fruitful directions for future research.