Lifelong experiences as a proxy of cognitive reserve moderate the association between connectivity and cognition in Alzheimer's disease

•Higher cognitive reserve is associated with preserved default mode network (DMN) connectivity.•Higher cognitive reserve attenuates the association between memory and DMN disruption.•The most prominent impact of cognitive reserve is observed in subjective cognitive decline.•Neural compensation in DMN intra- and internetwork connectivity was revealed in MCI.•Lifelong experiences help maintain cognition in the face of network disruption in Alzheimer's.