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". Research Assistants on this project were Kathy Charles, Lesley Calderwood and David White. 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. Use this link to request more details on this service.

Teaching

Currently teaching on the following programmes:

  • Level 2 - Research Methods in Psychology (Module Leader)
  • Level 3 - Human Cognition (Deputy Module Leader)
  • Level 4 - Neuropsychology (Deputy Module Leader)
  • 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)

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.

If your institution has the relevant permissions the links will allow you to download original versions of the above papers.

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).

Major Grants

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)

Forensic Human Identification Course, Barts School of Medicine, London. (Jul 04, Jul 05, Mar 06)

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.