Academic record

Research and Teaching

I teach psychology at RIT and run research on how language reflects cognition. The record is below.

Teaching

Rochester Institute of Technology, Adjunct Professor of Psychology

Term	Course	Code	Sections
Fall 2026	Introduction to Psychology	PSYC101	Double section
Fall 2025	Perception	PSYC224	Double section
Spring 2025	Social Psychology	PSYC225	Double section
Spring 2025	Developmental Psychology	PSYC226	One section
Fall 2024	Psychological Disorders	PSYC221	One section
Fall 2024	Cognitive Psychology	PSYC223	Double section
Spring 2024	Developmental Psychology	PSYC226	One section
Spring 2024	Cognitive Psychology	PSYC223	One section
Fall 2023	Introduction to Psychology	PSYC101	Two sections

I also mentor students in the Emotion and Cognition Lab.

2024 – present
Cognitive distortion recognition from language
Ongoing research · Cogbias AI
A research line on recognizing cognitive distortions in language, begun in 2024 and continuing inside Cogbias AI.
Aug 2022 – May 2023
Written Narratives and Mental Well-being
Lead researcher · Mentor: Dr. Tina Sutton
Designed the study in Qualtrics, ran 152 participants, analyzed in Python, Excel and Minitab.
Case study
Jun 2019 – May 2020
Mood Congruent Visual Perception
Lead researcher · Mentor: Dr. Tina Sutton
Wrote the perception task in Python and ran 65 participants.
Case study
Jun 2019 – May 2023
Comparative Cognition and Perception Lab
Research assistant · PI: Dr. Caroline DeLong
Tested and trained North American river otters. Recorded handedness data on baboons during object constancy and numerosity tasks.
Summer 2019
Language and Facial Expression Recognition
Research assistant · PI: Dr. Tina Sutton
Matched more than 1,000 words on valence, arousal and frequency.
Summer 2019
Transgender Misgendering Study
Research assistant · PI: Dr. Alan Smerbeck
Qualitative analysis of more than 1,200 responses.
Summer 2019
Social Methods, Evolutionary, and Legal Laboratory
Research assistant · PI: Dr. John Edlund
Ran participants in a replication study on attributions and biases.
Jan – May 2019
Health and Addiction Research Center
Research assistant · PI: Dr. Joseph Baschnagel
EEG, EKG, eye tracking, skin conductance and salivary cortisol. Trained new research assistants.

In preparation
Altobelli, M., & Sutton, T. The Impact of AI-Powered Question Rephrasing on Cognitive Bias in Survey Responses.Summary
In preparation
Altobelli, M., & Sutton, T. The Relationship between Language and Emotion: Examining Linguistic Narratives and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Summary
Book, 2018
Altobelli, M. (2018). The American Nightmare and the Art of Failure: Life with PTSD. iUniverse.
Book, with the editor
The Time Illusion: Quantum Psychology and the Mind's Greatest Invention.
Patent
One provisional patent filed through Cogbias AI.

Altobelli, M., Mcgrale, B., & Sutton, T. (2024, November 21). The Influence of PTSD Symptom Severity on Emotion-Laden Word Use and Cognitive Processing Styles. Psychonomic Society, New York, NY.
Altobelli, M., & Sutton, T. (2024, March 1). Examining Linguistic Narratives and Symptoms of Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression. Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Altobelli, M., Alm, C., & Sutton, T. (2023, May 16). Cognitive Processing Style Analyzer. Embracing the Digital Future of Healthcare Symposium, RIT.
DeLong, C.M., Becker, K., Wegman, J., Brownell, L., Altobelli, M., Hampton, K., Gibbs, S., & Cantlon, J. (2023, April 13). Hand preferences for match-to-sample tasks in olive baboons (Papio anubis). International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL.
Altobelli, M., Alm, C., & Sutton, T. (2023, April 5). Cognitive Processing Style Analyzer. Graduate Student Showcase, RIT.
Altobelli, M. (2022, September). Cognitive Processing Style Analyzer. AFRL visit, RIT AWARE-AI.
Altobelli, M., & Sutton, T. (2020, March). Mood Congruent Visual Perception. Poster, Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
Wegman, J., Wright, C., Rachfal, T., Altobelli, M., Morelli, J., Morrison, E., Gunther, K., & DeLong, C.M. (2019, August). Can North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) categorize 2D objects? Poster, RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium.