Mouse models of neuropsychiatric disorders have been an indispensable tool for studying pathological mechanisms and for in vivo testing of novel therapeutic agents. As pointed out by Nobel Laureate, Dr. Eric Kandel in 2009, “Understanding the biology of mental illness would be a paradigm shift in our thinking about mind…..…. it would also tell us more about who we are and how we function.” Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder and it has a tremendous cost to our society. The long timelines and high attrition rates make drug development for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders an expensive and risky business. The negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia become an unmet medical need for antipsychotics development. Schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders are generally diagnosed based on a collection of symptoms defined by a combination of an individual’s feelings, perceptions, and behaviors. The exact causes of schizophrenia are still elusive, but genetic predispositions play a crucial role in its apparition, usually in the young adulthood. As a complement to human studies, animal models not only provide a practical approach to elucidate causal relationships between genes and related symptoms but also play an indispensable role in the discovery and verification of potential drugs/treatments. Although it is nearly impossible to recapitulate the full phenotypic spectrum of schizophrenia in mice, the major role of behavioral tests in mice is to provide insights into the underlying neurobiological mechanism and the development of new therapeutics for schizophrenia. Given that the recovery of cognitive and social abilities significantly benefits functional outcomes, there has been an increasing interest in characterizing cognitive and social functions in normal mice and genetically engineered mice. Laboratory of Integrated Neuroscience and Ethology (LINE, http://www.psy.ntu.edu.tw/LINE/), led by Dr. Wen-Sung Lai in the Department of Psychology at the National Taiwan University, has established a comprehensive behavioral test battery and needed equipment (including over 500 individually ventilated cages for animal housing) to conduct functional assays and drug screening in mice. Their laboratory has also provided technical support for preclinical drug screening, testing results for patent applications, and service for pharmaceutical industry in Taiwan. In this review article, a selection of conventional behavioral tasks and specific mouse behavioral tasks was described and introduced. They also highlighted that the choice of specific behavioral tasks during experimental planning should take into consideration a variety of factors, including their validity, reliability, sensitivity, utility, and specificity. Based upon the hypothetical hypofunction of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated signaling pathways in the involvement of cognitive and social impairments in schizophrenia, three NMDAR-related compounds/drugs, D-serine, sarcosine, and D-cycloserine, are discussed in this article as an example for drug testing. Reference: Lai, W.S.*, Chang, C.Y.#, Wong, W.R.#, Pei, J.C.#, Chen, Y.S., Hung, W.L. Assessing schizophrenia-relevant cognitive and social deficits in mice: a selection of mouse behavioral tasks and potential therapeutic compounds. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 20(32), 5139-5150, 2014 (doi: 10.2174/1381612819666140110122750). Figure legend: An illustration of basic idea and concept regarding assessing schizophrenia-relevant phenotypes and treatments in mice in the Laboratory of Integrated Neuroscience and Ethology (LINE) of National Taiwan University (Image credit: Wei-Li Hung). Reference Ching-Hsun Huang, Ju-Chun Pei, Da-Zhong Luo, Ching Chen, Yi-Wen Chen and Wen-Sung Lai. Assessing schizophrenia-relevant cognitive and social deficits in mice: a selection of mouse behavioral tasks and potential therapeutic compounds. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 20(32), 5139-5150, 2014 (doi: 10.21 74/1381612819666140110122750). Associate Professor Wen-Sung Lai Department of Psychology wslai@ntu.edu.tw