Symposium: Novel Treatment Options for Impaired Cognition in Schizophrenia: Combining Different Modes of Cognitive Remediation ; BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment is evident in early stage of psychosis and can result in severe and longstanding functional impairment. Pharmacological interventions for cognitive impairments have been largely unsuccessful. The current study aimed to explore the effects of yoga exercise and aerobic exercise on cognitive functions, clinical conditions and brain structure in female patients with psychotic disorders. METHODS: Eighty-five female patients with psychotic disorders were recruited from three early intervention service units for psychosis. They were randomized into integrated yoga exercise group, aerobic exercise group and control group. At baseline and 12 weeks, clinical symptoms, cognitive functions, quality of life and fitness levels were assessed in all patients. Thirty-nine patients completed structural MRI assessment to compare the brain volume and cortical thickness. Repeated measures ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses of the clinical, cognitive, quality of life and fitness data were done between baseline and 12 weeks among the three groups. Post-hoc Bonferroni test was used for comparison between yoga exercise group and aerobic exercise group. RESULTS: Both yoga and aerobic exercise groups demonstrated significant improvements in verbal encoding (p