Amanda Moritz

Amanda is the social marketing manager at Brainscape. She writes for the blog, reaches out to existing and future Brainscape users online, and keeps coming up with reasons why Brainscape is the best learning tool ever. Born and raised in and around Cambridge, Massachusetts, Amanda stayed in the area to receive her bachelor's from MIT in Brain and Cognitives Sciences with a humanities concentration in writing. Anytime of day you'll be able to find Amanda eating food and candy, walking around her new city, and hanging out at the Brainscape office, obviously! Follow her @aemoritz

Amanda Moritz's Posts

Video of the Week: Food to improve memory

By Amanda Moritz, 2/16/2012 at 8:18 am

This week’s video of the week was chosen by Isabell, who shared the food post on Monday about your diet and your brain. If you haven’t read Monday’s post, I highly recommend it.

Food plays an important role in our lives. Yes, we need it to survive, but on top of satisfying our most basic needs it is also important that we supply our bodies and brains with essential nutrients that will keep us healthy and on the ball. And beyond that it is also within our power to achieve more than basic functionality! Some foods are known to be beneficial for your brain, so add fish, berries, leafy greens, and (SURPRISE!) caffeine to your diet.

Watch below for some great tips and information on what foods are good for your memory:

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Video of the Week: How to Get the Most Out of Studying

By Amanda Moritz, 2/2/2012 at 8:10 am

Have you struggled with the transition from mastering high school classes to succeeding in college or graduate level courses? There is a difference in what you are expected to learn and how you are tested of your knowledge once you enter college, and many students fail to adapt to these changes, thus failing to succeed in their classes. This can be helped though if you understand how some of your underlying beliefs about learning and studying are wrong. (more…)

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Sitting is killing you – another reason to take a study break

By Amanda Moritz, 2/1/2012 at 8:40 am

We’ve told you to take a break, we’ve told you why taking a break can improve your concentration, we’ve told you how to take a study break, and we’ve told you to go on vacation, all to help you study more effectively. But, it turns out, taking a break (an active break), can help improve your health and add back 7 years to your life worth living. Why is this true? It turns out, sitting is bad for you.

Yes, for all you students and office workers who spend the majority of your days sitting at the computer, sitting is killing you.

Take a look at this inforgraphic posted on Lifehacker to see just how detrimental sitting is to your health. And click on any of the above links for tips on how to take a break. (more…)

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How to improve your long term memory

By Amanda Moritz, 1/24/2012 at 1:37 pm

The Guardian’s recent recap of how long-term memories are encoded, how they decay, and how to strengthen these memories is right on point. It’s great to read such a succinct summary of why repetition intervals are so important to best remember what you’ve learned. A great review of Ebbinghaus’s original findings and how to practice your memory now.

From the Guardian:

“During the 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, spent more than 15 years learning random strings of nonsense syllables, and testing himself on their recall. What he found has become one of the few certainties of neuroscience: namely, that all memories grow continuously weaker, but that the rate of “decay” lessens each time you review the information. Ebbinghaus found that the ideal time to review a memory is just before you are about to forget it.”

You can view an entire series of articles and memory games on the Guardian: Maximising your memory.

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12 Hours Left: 1/2 Off Brainscape Apps!

By Amanda Moritz, 1/18/2012 at 12:00 pm

Only 12 hours left to get Brainscape’s foreign language and vocabulary apps 1/2 off!

Keep your New Year’s Resolutions with the aid of Brainscape: Learn a language and improve your vocabulary.

Until tonight at midnight, Brainscape’s Spanish, French, Chinese, GRE, and SAT apps are HALF OFF.

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Keep Your Resolution: 1/2 Off Apps Until 1/18!

By Amanda Moritz, 1/12/2012 at 12:00 pm

This week only:

Brainscape’s foreign language and vocabulary apps are 1/2 off!

Did you resolve to Learn a Language or improve your Vocabulary this year? We figured some of you could use the extra motivation 2 weeks into the new year, and what better motivation than a new fun and effective tool to help you learn your target language!

From today (1/12) until next Wednesday (1/18) at Midnight, Brainscape’s Spanish, French, Chinese, GRE, and SAT apps are HALF OFF.

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5 Tips for Keeping Your Resolution in 2012

By Amanda Moritz, 12/27/2011 at 8:45 am

Are you prepared to keep your resolution this coming year?

If you’re like the rest of us, it’s more than likely that you’ve made resolutions in past years that, for some reason or other, you were not able to keep. Perhaps you stuck with them for all of January, or even into February, but then other obligations came up and the resolution you made January 1st fell to the wayside.

Don’t be too hard on yourself! And don’t give up on New Year’s Resolutions! There is still time to plan the perfect resolution and here are 5 tips to set yourself up to succeed with this year’s resolution. (more…)

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Sports Trivia*: Brainscape’s New “It” App

By Amanda Moritz, 12/22/2011 at 7:56 am

Do you dream of landing a job at ESPN or as a sports manager at IMG? Maybe you just love rattling off NFL records while watching the game with friends. Or perhaps you’re new to watching sports and need to learn the basics about the leagues and teams as you get started. Now there’s an app for that.

Brainscape’s Sports Trivia* app is THE tool for learning about the teams, players, records and history of the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. It’s perfect for novices who simply want to learn the teams and cities, or for the more advanced fan who wants to drill himself on the top NBA draft pick in 1957. (more…)

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