# Mathias Pessiglione
Mathias Pessiglione (born 1974) is a cognitive neuroscientist and Inserm research director (DR2) who co-leads the [Motivation](https://www.edgepedia.org/motivation), Brain, and Behaviour (MBB) team at the Paris Brain Institute (Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle épinière) in Paris.[1](https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias) • [2](https://www.idref.fr/089288645) His research asks how the brain turns rewards into action: why we pin our hopes on certain opportunities, prefer some options to others, and spend effort on some activities rather than rest.[1](https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias) • [2](https://www.idref.fr/089288645) He is also a clinical psychologist at the [Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital](https://www.edgepedia.org/pitie-salpetriere-hospital) and became co-responsible for the CogMaster program at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.[3](https://theconversation.com/profiles/mathias-pessiglione-367902)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Field | Cognitive neuroscience of reward, motivation, and effort[1](https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias) |
| Position | Inserm research director (DR2); co-leader, Motivation, Brain and Behaviour team, Paris Brain Institute[2](https://www.idref.fr/089288645) |
| Training | PhD in cognitive sciences, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), 2004, advised by Léon Tremblay[4](http://theses.fr/2004PA066264) |
| Postdoctoral training | Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, 2004–2008, in Chris D. Frith's lab[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/) |
| Signature work | "Dopamine-dependent prediction errors underpin reward-seeking behaviour in humans", *Nature*, 2006[6](https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2636869) |
| Team base | Inserm U1127, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Brain & Spine Institute, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière[7](https://sites.google.com/site/motivationbrainbehavior/the-team/current-team/pessiglione) |
| Honors | Bettencourt young-researcher prize 2003; French Neuroscience Society Thesis Award 2005; ERC Starting Grant 2010; Osiris Prize 2011; Cercle FSER laureate 2011[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/) • [8](https://www.fondationbs.org/notre-communaute/laureats-et-projets/mathias-pessiglione) |
## Training and career
Pessiglione holds a [Master's degree](https://www.edgepedia.org/masters-degree) in neurobiology from ENS Lyon (1999), a Master's in clinical psychology from the [University of Paris](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-paris)-Descartes (2004), and a doctorate in cognitive sciences from Université Pierre et [Marie Curie](https://www.edgepedia.org/marie-curie) (2004).[1](https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias) His dissertation, supervised by Léon Tremblay, was titled *Dopamine, ganglions de la base et sélection de l'action : du singe MPTP au patient parkinsonien*, an electrophysiological and behavioral study running from MPTP monkeys to Parkinson's patients.[4](http://theses.fr/2004PA066264) The Cercle FSER biography dates the doctorate to 2003, while the thesis record and the Paris Brain Institute give 2004.[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/) • [4](http://theses.fr/2004PA066264)
From 2004 to 2008 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in London, in Chris D. Frith's lab; in 2008 he was appointed group leader at the Brain and Spine Institute (UPMC, Paris).[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/) He has since risen to Inserm research director (DR2) and co-leads the MBB team as of 2025.[2](https://www.idref.fr/089288645) According to his BnF/IdRef authority record, he directed the doctoral theses of Stefano Palminteri (2012) and Maël Lebreton (2013) at Université Pierre et Marie Curie.[2](https://www.idref.fr/089288645)
## Representative work
His 2006 *Nature* paper, "Dopamine-dependent prediction errors underpin reward-seeking behaviour in humans", tested in humans what dopamine does during learning. Participants took either L-DOPA, which enhances dopaminergic function, or haloperidol, which reduces it, while performing an [instrumental learning task](https://www.edgepedia.org/instrumental-learning-task) under brain imaging. The magnitude of reward prediction error expressed in the striatum was modulated by the drug: L-DOPA-treated subjects chose the most rewarding action more often than haloperidol-treated subjects, and a standard action-value learning algorithm incorporating prediction errors reproduced their choices.[6](https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2636869)
## Research program: motivation, effort and the brain valuation system
The MBB team, based at Inserm U1127, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, and the Brain & Spine Institute at Pitié-Salpêtrière, combines three approaches: human cognitive neuroscience, neurophysiology in experimental models, and computational modeling, which links levels of description quantitatively.[1](https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias) Its stated objective is to elucidate the brain mechanisms that select actions based on their costs and benefits, and to understand how that trade-off is affected by mood, confidence, and fatigue.[7](https://sites.google.com/site/motivationbrainbehavior/the-team/current-team/pessiglione) The team investigates valuation and choice, belief attribution, and effort allocation, using fMRI, MEG, local field potentials recorded in patients, and neuropsychology.[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/)
Two further studies mark the program. The 2007 study showed that participants shown masked coins of 1 penny or 1 pound, subliminally at 17 and 50 ms or supraliminally at 100 ms, squeezed a handgrip harder for the pound, evidence that incentives can raise physical force without conscious awareness.[9](https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/pejqx) The 2020 *Nature Neuroscience* study recorded intracranial EEG in 36 patients and found subjective value reflected in ventromedial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex high-frequency activity, plus regions including the hippocampus; it claimed four core properties of the brain valuation system: value is decoded in pre-stimulus activity (anticipation), across item categories (generality), even during a distractive task (automaticity), and as both linear and quadratic signals encoding value and confidence (quadraticity).[10](https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02881927/file/Lopez-Persem_iEEG_NatNeuro_complete.pdf)
## Clinical extensions
The team studies the brain mechanisms that drive behavior both in normal conditions and in neurological and psychiatric pathologies; its output includes a 2018 *Brain* paper on motivation deficits and a 2019 *Current Biology* paper on the neuro-computational impact of physical training overload on economic decision-making.[11](https://parisbraininstitute.org/paris-brain-institute-research-teams/mbb-motivation-brain-and-behaviour) These studies provide a cognitive-level explanation (for example reduced sensitivity to reward), a neural-level dysfunction (for example altered dopamine release), and a route to predicting treatment outcomes, replacing subjective apathy questionnaires.[12](https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.5802/crbiol.61/)
## Honors and funding
The Fondation Bettencourt Schueller awarded him the Prix Bettencourt pour les jeunes chercheurs in 2003, while he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Functional Imaging Laboratory at [University College London](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-college-london), for his research on dopamine and the decoupling between decision-making and action.[8](https://www.fondationbs.org/notre-communaute/laureats-et-projets/mathias-pessiglione) He later received the Thesis Award of the French Neuroscience Society (2005), a European Research Council Starting Grant (2010), the Osiris Prize of the Institut de France, Académie des Sciences (2011), and was a 2011 Cercle FSER laureate in neurosciences.[5](https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/)
## Recent developments
Recent work extends the effort framework rather than retiring it. According to a comment published in *Trends in Cognitive Sciences* on 16 October 2025, co-signed by Pessiglione, metabolic and motivational theories of cognitive effort need not be opposed.[13](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41107138/) Outside the lab, a 2024 PNAS paper on how day-to-day fluctuations in motivation drive effort-based decision-making shows the paradigm remains an active research area in the wider literature.[14](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2417964122)
## References
1. PESSIGLIONE Mathias, Paris Brain Institute. https://parisbraininstitute.org/collaborators/pessiglione-mathias
2. Pessiglione, Mathias, BnF/IdRef authority record. https://www.idref.fr/089288645
3. Mathias Pessiglione, The Conversation profile. https://theconversation.com/profiles/mathias-pessiglione-367902
4. Dopamine, ganglions de la base et sélection de l'action, thesis record, theses.fr. http://theses.fr/2004PA066264
5. Mathias Pessiglione, Cercle FSER. https://www.cerclefser.org/en/portfolio_page/mathias-pessiglione/
6. Dopamine-dependent prediction errors underpin reward-seeking behaviour in humans, Europe PMC. https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2636869
7. Motivation Brain Behavior, Mathias Pessiglione (lab site). https://sites.google.com/site/motivationbrainbehavior/the-team/current-team/pessiglione
8. Mathias Pessiglione, Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. https://www.fondationbs.org/notre-communaute/laureats-et-projets/mathias-pessiglione
9. Unconscious monetary incentives using masked and un-masked methods, a replication of Pessiglione et al. (2007), OSF. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/pejqx
10. Four core properties of the human brain valuation system demonstrated in intracranial signals, HAL. https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-02881927/file/Lopez-Persem_iEEG_NatNeuro_complete.pdf
11. MBB: Motivation, Brain and Behaviour, Paris Brain Institute. https://parisbraininstitute.org/paris-brain-institute-research-teams/mbb-motivation-brain-and-behaviour
12. Computational fingerprinting: a new approach to motivation deficit in neuropsychiatric diseases, C. R. Biologies. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.5802/crbiol.61/
13. No need to oppose metabolic and motivational theories, PubMed record, Trends in Cognitive Sciences. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41107138/
14. Day-to-day fluctuations in motivation drive effort-based decision-making, PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2417964122
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Decision-making and executive function researchers*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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