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Biography
I graduated from the 糖心原创 Malaysia Campus (UNMC) in 2014, with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. Subsequently, I moved to Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) to do my PhD in , on a project investigating natural scene perception. After obtaining my Doctorate from QMUL and having been an Associate Lecturer (2017-2018) at the same institution, I started at UNMC as an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology in September 2018.
Teaching Summary
I am currently involved in teaching for the following modules:
PSGY2014 - Neuroscience and Behaviour
PSGY2012 - Cognitive psychology 2
PSGY1015 - Practical methods in Psychology
PSGY2016 - Practical methods in Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience
PSGY3047 - Scientific computing with Matlab (module convenor)
Research Summary
Themes: Visual recognition, Premenstrual disorders, Mood, Cognitive functioning.
My research primarily focuses on two areas. First, I investigate how people recognise the identity of everyday objects and interpret emotional expressions (both facial and bodily), with a particular emphasis on the role of context in shaping these processes. Second, I study the impact of premenstrual disorders on mood, emotion processing, and cognitive functioning. My work combines experimental and questionnaire-based approaches, conducted in both laboratory and real-world settings. In my experimental research, I use a range of methods, including behavioural measures, psychophysics, and eye-tracking.
Hussain Ismail, A. M, Wibowo, J. S., Qi Zheng Leong, B., & Estudillo, A. J. (2026). Do Semantically Consistent Scenes Sharpen Perceived Object Representations Across Different Cultures?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218261454680
Leong, B. Q. Z., Hussain Ismail, A. M, & Estudillo, A. J. (2026). Task-specific associations between holistic processing and individual differences in face memory. British Journal of Psychology, 00, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.70084
Leong, B. Q. Z., Hussain Ismail, A. M, & Estudillo, A. J. (2025). Persistent task-specific impairment of holistic face processing in acquired prosopagnosia. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 43115, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-28666-3
Leong, B. Q. Z., Hussain Ismail, A. M, Wong, H. K., & Estudillo, A. J. (2024). The heterogeneity of holistic processing profiles in developmental prosopagnosia: holistic processing is impaired but not absent. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 1-19.
Leong, B. Q. Z., Estudillo, A. J., & Hussain Ismail, A. M. (2023). Holistic and featural processing's link to face recognition varies by individual and task. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 16869.
Kunasegaran, K., Hussain Ismail, A. M, Ramasamy, S., Gnanou, J. V., Caszo, B. A., & Chen, P. L. (2023). Understanding mental fatigue and its detection: a comparative analysis of assessments and tools. PeerJ, 11, e15744.
Irwantoro, K., Nimsha Nilakshi Lennon, N., Mareschal, I., & Hussain Ismail, A. M. (2023). Contextualising facial expressions: The effect of temporal context and individual differences on classification. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76(2), 450-459.
Hussain Ismail, A. M., Solomon, J. A., Hansard, M., & Mareschal, I. (2019). A perceptual bias for man-made objects in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 286. doi:
Hussain Ismail, A. M., Solomon, J. A., Hansard, M., & Mareschal, I. (2016). A tilt after-effect for images of buildings: Evidence of selectivity to the orientation of everyday scenes. Proceedings of the Royal Society Open Science, 3(1), 160551, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160551