We investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the acts of decision-making, and their interactions with cognitive control and motor systems. Our methodological approach is resolutly integrative: we combine behavioral research, computational modeling, and electrophysiology (EEG, EMG) to test theories and generate new perspectives. Part of our research is dedicated to investigating decision-making mechanisms in developmental and clinical populations.
email: mathieu.servant@univ-fcomte.fr
Achard, J., Gajdos, T., Servant, M., (2025). Extending continuous flow models of immediate decision reports to delayed decision reports. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001748
Zanoni, C., Servant, M., Besch, G., Berthier, F., Samain, E., Pili-Floury, S., Bennabi, D., & Ferreira, D. (2025). Decision-making profiles of anesthetists in selecting neuromuscular blocking agents for general anesthesia: A survey study. Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinane.2025.111790
Béreau, M., Garnier-Allain, A., Servant, M. (2024). Clinically established early Parkinson's disease patients do not show impaired use of priors in conditions of perceptual uncertainty. Neuropsychologia, 108965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108965
Dendauw, E., Evans, N. J., Logan, G. D., Haffen, E., Bennabi, D., Gajdos, T., & Servant, M. (2024). The gated cascade diffusion model: an integrated theory of decision-making, motor preparation, and motor execution. Psychological Review, 131(4), 825–857. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000464 https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000464
Nalborczyk, L., Longcamp, M., Gajdos, T., Servant, M., & Alario, F.-X. (2024). Towards formal models of inhibitory mechanisms involved in motor imagery: a commentary on Bach et al. (2022). Psychological Research. doi: 10.1007/s00426-023-01915-8
Béreau, M., Kibleur, A., Servant, M., Clément, G., Dujardin, K., Rolland, A-S., Wirth, T., Lagha-Boukbiza, O., Voirin, J., des Neige Santin, M., Hainque, E., Grabli, D., Comte, A., Drapier, S., Durif, F., Marques, A., Eusebio, A., Azulay, J-P., Giordana, C., ... Anheim, M. (2024). Apathy before and one year after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease: cognitive and motivational predictors. Brain, 147(2), 472-485. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad324
Béreau, M., Castrioto, A., Servant, M., Lhommée, E., Desmarets, M., Bichon, A., Pélissier, P., Schmitt, E., Klinger, H., Longato, N., Phillipps, C., Wirth, T., Fraix, V., Benatru, I., Durif, F., Azulay, J.-P., Moro, E., Broussolle, E., Thobois, S., … Anheim, M. (2023). Imbalanced motivated behaviors according to motor sign asymmetry in drug-naïve Parkinson’s disease. Scientific Reports, 13(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48188-0
Mann, L. G., Servant M., Hay, K. R., Song, A.K., Trujillo, P., Yan, B., Kang, H., Zald, D., Donahue, M. J., Logan, G. D., Claassen, D.O. (2023). The role of a dopamine-dependent limbic-motor network in sensory-motor processing in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 35(11), 1806–1822. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02048
Béreau, M., Van Waes, V., Servant, M., Magnin, E., Tatu, L., Anheim, M. (2023) Apathy in Parkinson’s Disease: Clinical Patterns and Neurobiological Basis . Cells 2023, 12, 1599. https://doi.org/10.3390/ cells12121599
Evans, N. J. & Servant, M. (2022). A model-based approach to disentangling facilitation and interference effects in conflict tasks. Psychological Review, 129(5), 1183–1209. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000357
Servant, M. , Logan, G. D., Gajdos, T., & Evans, N. J. (2021). An integrated theory of deciding and acting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 150(12), 2435–2454. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001063
Śmigasiewicz, K., Servant, M., Ambrosi, S., Blayes, A., & Burle, B. (2021). Speeding-up while growing-up: synchronous functional development of motor and non-motor processes across childhood and adolescence. Plos One, 16(9), e0255892. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255892
Lesourd, M., Servant, M., Baumard, J., Reynaud, E., Ecochard, C., Medjaoui, F. T., Bartolo, A., & Osiurak, F. (2021). Semantic and action tool knowledge in the brain: Identifying common and distinct networks. Neuropsychologia, 159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107918
Servant, M. , Evans, N. J. (2020). A diffusion model analysis of the effects of aging in the flanker task. Psychology & Aging, 35(6), 831–849. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000546
Gajdos, T., Servant, M., Hasbroucq, T., & Davranche, K. (2020). A Measure of the Interference Effect Distribution. Behavioral Research Methods, 52(4), 1629–1639. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01339-6
Evans, N. J. & Servant, M. (2020). A comparison of conflict diffusion models in the flanker task through pseudo-likelihood Bayes factors. Psychological Review, 127(1), 114-135. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000165
Servant, M., & Logan, G. D. (2019). Dynamics of attentional focusing in the Eriksen flanker task. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 81(8), 2710-2721. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01796-3
Servant, M., Tillman, G., Schall, J. D., Logan, G. D., & Palmeri, T. J. (2019). Neurally constrained modeling of speed-accuracy tradeoff during visual search: gated accumulation of modulated evidence. Journal of Neurophysiology, 121(4), 1300–1314. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00507.2018
Ambrosi, S., Servant, M., Blaye, A., & Burle, B. (2019). Conflict processing in kindergarten children: New evidence from distribution analyses reveals the dynamics of incorrect response activation and suppression. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 177, 36–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.06.006
Reppert, T. R., Servant, M., Heitz, R. P., & Schall, J. D. (2018). Neural mechanisms of speed-accuracy tradeoff of visual search: saccade vigor, the origin of targeting errors, and comparison of the superior colliculus and frontal eye field. Journal of Neurophysiology, 120(1), 372–384. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00887.2017
Servant, M., Gajdos, T., & Davranche, K. (2018). ELF: A new measure of response capture. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(2), 539–547. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1389-2
Boehm, U., Annis, J., Frank, M. J., Hawkins, G. E., Heathcote, A., Kellen, D., Servant., M., … Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2018). Estimating across-trial variability parameters of the Diffusion Decision Model: Expert advice and recommendations. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 87, 46–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2018.09.004
Servant, M., Cassey, P., Woodman, G. F., & Logan, G. D. (2018). Neural bases of automaticity. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44(3), 440–464. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000454
White*, C. N., Servant*, M., & Logan, G. D. (2018 *equal contribution). Testing the validity of conflict drift-diffusion models for use in estimating cognitive processes: A parameter-recovery study. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(1), 286–301. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1271-2
Servant, M., van Wouwe, N., Wylie, S. A., & Logan, G. D. (2018). A model-based quantification of action control deficits in Parkinson’s disease. Neuropsychologia, 111, 26–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.014
Spieser, L., Servant, M., Hasbroucq, T., & Burle, B. (2017). Beyond decision! Motor contribution to speed-accuracy trade-off in decision-making. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(3), 950–956. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1172-9
Servant, M., White, C., Montagnini, A., & Burle, B. (2016). Linking Theoretical Decision-making Mechanisms in the Simon Task with Electrophysiological Data: A Model-based Neuroscience Study in Humans. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(10), 1501–1521. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00989
Servant, M., White, C., Montagnini, A., & Burle, B. (2015). Using Covert Response Activation to Test Latent Assumptions of Formal Decision-Making Models in Humans. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 35(28), 10371–10385. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0078-15.2015
Servant, M., Montagnini, A., & Burle, B. (2014). Conflict tasks and the diffusion framework: Insight in model constraints based on psychological laws. Cognitive Psychology, 72, 162–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.03.002
Burle, B., Spieser, L., Servant, M., & Hasbroucq, T. (2014). Distributional reaction time properties in the Eriksen task: marked differences or hidden similarities with the Simon task? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21(4), 1003–1010. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-013-0561-6
Béreau et al. (2024, Neuropsychologia): https://osf.io/agcbe/?view_only=fbd49805c111478a86d03893a63f3ac5
Dendauw et al. (2024, Psych Review): https://osf.io/4unw6/
Servant et al. (2021, JEP General): https://osf.io/r5c2b/
Servant & Evans (2020, Psych & Aging): https://osf.io/td573/
Servant & Logan (2019, AP&P): https://osf.io/v6kn2/
Servant et al. (2015, J Neurosci): https://osf.io/3zptk/
Servant et al. (2014, Cog Psychol): https://osf.io/swny9/
2022 ERC starting grant "An integrated theory of deciding and acting"
2022 Junior member, Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)
2021 Fellow member of the Psychonomic society
2018 Bob Fox Award of Excellence in Post-Doctoral Research, Vanderbilt University
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/psychological_sciences/about/awards.php
2015 Early career publication award, European Society for Cognitive Psychology
https://www.escop.eu/awards-en-funding/awards/early-career-publication-award
I was born and raised in Auvergne (France). After studying violin and music theory in Lyon's High School of Music, I completed a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Aix-Marseille (supervision: Boris Burle & Anna Montagnini) and post-doctoral studies at Vanderbilt University's department of psychological sciences (collaborators: Gordon Logan, Thomas Palmeri, Jeff Schall & Geoff Woodman). I am a professor of cognitive sciences at the Marie and Louis Pasteur University (France).