Dr Allan McNeill

Lecturer

ROOM: M440
T: +44 141 331 3875/3119
E: a.mcneill@gcal.ac.uk

Profile

Allan McNeill joined the Psychology Department at Glasgow Caledonian University as a Lecturer in 2003. In 1999 he was awarded a BSc. (Hons 1st Class) in Psychology from the University of Glasgow . He completed and was awarded his Ph.D in 2002. From 2002 to 2003 he was an ESRC funded Research Fellow, again at the University of Glasgow.

His current research interest is in the area face processing with a focus on forensic identification. He recently completed an ESRC funded research project with Mike Burton titled "Individual variation in face processing". A new project titled, “False Identification of faces in children and adults”, also funded by the ESRC, will commence in May 2010. He has strong links and collaborates regularly with members of the Glasgow Face Recognition Group.


Dr McNeill offers expertise on the accuracy of eyewitness identification to the legal profession in Scotland. Please use the email link above to request more information on this service.

Teaching

Current teaching:

  • Level 3 - Human Cognition (Lecturer)
  • Level 4 - Psychology Empirical Project (Dr McNeill offers supervision to final year students in the area of face processing)
  • MSc - Research Methods in Psychology and Mental Health (Deputy Module Leader)
  • MSc - Psychology in Criminal and Penal Contexts (Lecturer)

Past Teaching:

  • Level 1 - Introduction to Psychology (Lecturer)
  • Level 1 - Introduction to Learning and Cognition (Tutor)
  • Level 2 - Brain Behaviour and Experience (Lecturer and Tutor)
  • Level 2 - Research Methods in Psychology (Lecturer and Module Leader)
  • Level 3 - Human Cognition (Lecturer, Module Leader/Deputy Module Leader)
  • Level 4 - Neuropsychology (Deputy Module Leader)
  • MSc - Research Methods in Psychology and Mental Health (Lectuer, Module Leader)

Recent Publications

McNeill, A., & Burton A.M. (2002). The locus of semantic priming effects in person recognition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55, 1141-1156.

Bonner, L., Burton, A.M., Jenkins, R., McNeill, A., & Bruce, V. (2003). Meet The Simpsons: Top-down effects in face learning. Perception. 32 (10), 1159-1168.

McNeill, A., Burton, A.M., & Ellis A.W. (2003). When sex isn't special: priming onto a sex decision. Visual Cognition, 10(6), 641-650.

Brédart, S., Brennen, T., Delchambre, M., McNeill, A., & Burton, M. (2005). Naming very familiar people: When retrieving names is faster than retrieving semantic biographical information. British Journal of Psychology, 96(2), 215-230.

Burton, A.M., White, D., & McNeill, A. (2010). The Glasgow Face Matching Test. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 286-291.

Jajdelska, E, Butler, C., Kelly, S.W., MacNeill, A., & Overy, K. (in press). Crying, moving and keeping it whole: What makes literary description vivid? Poetics Today.

Recent Conference Presentations

McNeill, A. "Exploring semantic priming effects in person recognition", paper given at meeting of BPS-PSYPAG, Glasgow University (July, 2000), in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, Volume 9, No 2, August 2001, p104.

McNeill, A., Burton, A.M. "The locus of semantic priming effects in person recognition", paper given at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, Essex University (Sept, 2000), in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, Volume 9, No 2, August 2001, p121.

McNeill, A., Burton, A.M. "Cross-domain repetition priming for gender decisions in person recognition", paper given at Joint meeting of ESCOP and BPS-Cognitive Section, Edinburgh (Sept, 2001), in Proceedings of the XII ESCOP and BPS Cognitive Section Conference, September 2001, p152.

Burton, A.M., Jenkins, R., & McNeill A. "Putting names to faces: no theory seems to work", paper given by Burton at Joint meeting of EPS and Belgian Psychological Society. Leuven (April, 2002).

McNeill, A., Burton, A.M., Jenkins, R., & Smith, F. "Celebrity mismatch: Insights into associative priming of famous faces", paper given at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, Reading University (Sept, 2003), in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, Volume 12, No 2, August 2004, p108.

McNeill, A., Burton, M., Brédart, S., Brennen T., Delchambre M., "Naming of faces occurs more quickly than semantic categorisation for very familiar people", paper given at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, Leeds University (Sept, 2004).

McNeill, A., & Smith, F.W. "Disguise and distinguishing features in video line-ups", paper given at XVth European Conference on Psychology and Law, Vilnius, Lithuania (June 2005).

McNeill, A. & O’Donnell, C. "The worse you look the better I recognise you: Improved recall for faces presented in low spatial frequency". Paper given by O'Donnell at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, Leeds University (Aug, 2005).

Jenkins, R. & McNeill A. "How to scare Tony Blair: Imposing emotional expressions on famous faces". Poster presented by Jenkins at meeting of Experimental Psychology Society, London, (Jan, 2006).

Charles, K., McNeill, A., Burton, M. and White, D. “Individual Differences in Face Matching”.  Poster presented by Charles at the 13th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID).  Gottingen, Germany (June 2007).

McNeill, A., & Charles, K. “Variability in face processing in a forensic setting”. Paper given at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, University of Aberdeen (Aug, 2007).

McNeill, A., & Charles, K. “Fallibility of Eyewitness Identification”. Paper given at meeting of BPS Scotland Annual Branch Conference, Falkirk (Nov, 2007).

McNeill, A. “Variability in accuracy and confidence in face matching”. Paper given at meeting of XXIX International Congress of Psychology (Berlin, July 2008).

Strathie, A, & McNeill, A. “In the dock: Composite images do not improve identification accuracy”. Paper given by Strathie at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, University of Southampton (Aug, 2008).

McNeill, A, & Calderwood. “Variability in face processing: A large-scale study”. Paper given at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, University of Southampton (Aug, 2008).

Strathie, A, & McNeill. “Facial Wipes Don’t Wash: Video Wipes Impair Face Matching Performance”. Paper given by Strathie at meeting of BPS-Cognitive Section, University of Hertfordshire (Sept, 2009)

Major Grants

  • ESRC: False Identification of faces in children and adults, 2010-2012 (fec: £98,820)
  • ESRC: Individual variation in face processing, 2006-2008. With Mike Burton and Alison Britton (£182,628).

Competitive Awards

  • 2004, Department of Psychology Research Grant, GCU (£2,014).
  • 2002, ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship - T026271356 (£26,279).
  • 1999, ESRC Postgraduate Studentship - R00429934499 (£34,170).
  • 1998, Welcome Trust Summer Scholarship (£800).
  • 1998, Carnegie Summer Scholarship (£400).

Invited Talks

  • Facial Imaging Course, Tulliallan Police College, Tulliallan. (Oct 03, Oct 04, Jan 06, Jan 07)
  • Forensic Human Identification Course, Barts School of Medicine, London. (Jul 04, Jul 05, Mar 06, Mar 07, Mar 08, Mar 09)

Peer Reviewer for:

  • The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
  • The British Journal of Psychology.
  • Perception.
  • Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Professional Memberships

  • Member of the British Psychological Society.
  • Member of the British Psychological Society - Cognitive Section.
  • Member of the European Association of Psychology and Law.

External Committee Memberships

  • British Psychological Society, Cognitive Section.
  • British Psychological Society, Standing Conference Committee.