Contact
Biography
I graduated from the University of Nottingham 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 Dr. Isabelle Mareschal's lab, 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2024.2371384
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. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-44164-w
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. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15744
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. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218221094296
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: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1492
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