Enhancing Cognitive Training Through Exercise Following a First Schizophrenia Episode

The Cognitive Training and Exercise intervention consists of 24 weeks of systematic
computerized cognitive training, 4 hours per week, plus aerobic exercise, 150 minutes per
week. The Cognitive Training Intervention includes the same systematic cognitive training.
The first 12 weeks involve neurocognitive training, using training exercises from Posit
Science Brain HQ. The second 12 weeks involves social cognitive training, using the Posit
Science SocialVille modules. Aerobic exercise occurs as two 45-minute sessions at the clinic
and two 30-minute sessions at home weekly. Intensity of aerobic exercise is tailored to
maintain an individualized target heart rate zone and is monitored by a heart rate recorder.
A weekly one-hour Bridging Skills Group with other members of the treatment condition is
designed to aid generalization of training to everyday life situations. The immediate target
is brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The primary treatment outcomes are overall cognitive
deficit level and global functioning level.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. a first episode of a psychotic illness that began within the past two years;

2. a diagnosis by DSM-5 of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, mainly depressed
type, or schizophreniform disorder;

3. sufficient acculturation and fluency in the English language to avoid invalidating
research measures; and

4. residence likely to be within commuting distance of the UCLA Aftercare Research
Program.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. inability to participate in aerobic exercise;

2. evidence of a known neurological disorder (e.g., epilepsy) or significant head injury;

3. evidence of moderate or severe alcohol or substance use disorder within the six months
prior to the first episode or evidence that substance abuse triggered the psychotic
episode or makes the schizophrenia diagnosis ambiguous; or

4. mental retardation, i.e. estimated premorbid IQ less than 70.