OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of aripiprazole and quetiapine on cognitive function in patients with bipolar depression. METHODS: 100 patients with bipolar depression were selected and randomly divided into aripiprazole group and quetiapine group, with 50 cases in each group. Aripiprazole group was given aripiprazole 5 mg, bid; quetiapine group was given quetiapine 25 mg, bid, on 1st-3rd day, increasing 25 mg every 3 days until to 150 mg, bid. Both groups received 8 weeks of treatment. Before and after 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks of treatment, MADRS, MoCA, MMSE and ADL of 2 groups were recorded. RESULTS: There was no statistical significance in MADRS between 2 groups after 8 weeks of treatment (P>0.05). MoCA of aripiprazole group was higher than that of quetiapine group after 2,4,6 and 8 weeks of treatment, with statistical significance (P<0.05). After treatment, MMSE and ADL of 2 groups were improved significantly compared to before treatment; MMSE of aripiprazole group was significantly higher than that of quetiapine group while ADL was significantly lower than quetiapine group after 8 weeks of treatment, with statistical significance (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Quetiapine and aripiprazole has obvious curative effect on patients with bipolar depression, and the improvement effect of aripiprazole is better than quetiapine on cognitive function in patients with bipolar depression.