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

Brainscape Fan Video Contest

By Amanda Moritz, 4/10/2012 at 4:42 pm

Do you want to let the world know that you are learning really really fast with Brainscape and compete at a chance to win one of two AmEx Giftcards? Now is your chance! Enter the Brainscape Fan Video Contest today!

Submit to the Brainscape Fan Video Contest by Friday, April 27th, and receive any Brainscape subject of your choice for free, just for participating! Voting for the two grand prizes goes for 2 additional weeks (rules below).

You can view the current submissions here. (more…)

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The History of Flashcards

By Amanda Moritz, at 8:25 am

Check out our new favorite blog: the Flaschards Guru! It’s a blog all about our favorite study tool: Flashcards! We are thrilled to share a blog post from the Flashcards Guru on the history of flashcards. The Flashcards Guru has assured us that there will be more blog posts on the modern history of flashcards.

Reading Disentangled – The Beginnings of Flashcards

We all know and use flashcards as a common and effective study tool for memorizing information. The ‘traditional’ flashcard is an empty rectangular piece of lined or checkered paper or carton that allows for notes to be written down. Finished cards can also be bought for a wide variety of subjects. In the 21st century, flashcards, like other paper sources, are slowly being replaced by electronic devices that offer the same features. As it’s common knowledge, you were already well aware of all of this.

What you may not know yet about flashcards is their history, origins and what was there before. In fact, not many details are known about when the learning device first emerged. Nevertheless a bit of research unearthed several facts about the history and ancestors of the flashcard that might be interesting to know. (more…)

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Video of the Week: A History of Cognitive Science in 3 Minutes

By Amanda Moritz, 4/5/2012 at 8:00 am

This week’s video is a hilarious music video running through the main influencers and discoveries of cognitive science starting with Aristotle and ending with present day superstars in the field, all to the tune of Billy Joel’s We didn’t start the fire. Take three minutes and see how many of the names your recognize. Enjoy!

We didn’t start the scanner – but we’ve strong attraction to that big contraption.
Get inside the magnet… we need activations for our publications (more…)

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3 Tips for Preparing for the AP French Language Exam

By Amanda Moritz, 3/28/2012 at 3:42 pm

AP season is upon us, and the idea of taking one, or even multiple (!), AP exams this May can be daunting. Don’t get too worried yet, though. You still have plenty of time to prepare for your French Language AP.

Brainscape’s French Verbs Conjugations and Vocab subjects are the perfect study supplements for your AP Exam preparations. Here are 3 tips to help you best prepare for your exam: (more…)

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The Worst Case of Amnesia Ever, and other stories: Radiolab’s “Memory and Forgetting”

By Amanda Moritz, 3/26/2012 at 10:45 am

Today we share with you an episode from one of our favorite radioshows: Radiolab. Memory and Forgetting first aired in June 2007, nearly 5 years ago. This podcast might be half a decade old, but the concepts and stories they discuss are just as relevant and interesting today as they were then, and, as always, Jad and Robert presents memory and forgetting in a delightful mosaic in 3 parts. (more…)

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3 Ways to Make your App Stand Out: Andrew Cohen in Entrepreneur Magazine

By Amanda Moritz, 3/20/2012 at 10:35 am

You might remember a recent Facebook post of a photo of Mike and Andrew being photographed, “discussing Ke$ha.” While it’s true that they were talking pop music, it was just so they had something to talk about while the photographers got stills for a video that appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine yesterday.

Earlier this month the magazine visited the Varick St. Incubator and interviewed Brainscape’s Andrew Cohen, to learn some of the science behind our success in the iTunes App Store.

We are thrilled to share this post from Entrepreneur Magazine. Their Project Grow series focuses on “how today’s most dynamic young companies are scaling their businesses.” Read on and watch the video interview to learn how we did it, and, there are some great shots of the incubator if you are interested in taking a peak inside…

(more…)

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Video of the Week: Introducing the Ted-Ed YouTube Channel

By Amanda Moritz, 3/15/2012 at 8:32 am

TED announced its new YouTube Channel on Monday: TED-Ed. The aim of TED-Ed is “to capture and amplify the voices of great educators around the world”. I think this is a great idea (I’m obviously a fan of animated lessons) for several reasons, and I am definitely looking forward to having teachers from all over the world sharing their best lessons.

TED is coordinating nominated lessons with nominated animators. The teacher works with TED to get the less under 10 minutes and then pairs them with an animator to bring their lesson to our computer screens. The video below is the TED overview of what we can expect from these videos, and also a call to action for us to nominate teachers, nominate animators, and help them find the best lessons in the world.

I can’t wait to see what they put out there first (early April)! I’ll be sure to post some of my favorites once I have them.

(more…)

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German Verbs Now Available on Brainscape!

By Amanda Moritz, 3/14/2012 at 8:47 am

At Brainscape, we’re always working on new subjects for you to study. This week, we released our first German subject: German Verbs. German Verbs is comprehensive and includes conjugations for 277 verbs in eight different tenses. This subject is free for a limited time, so get it (and rate it in iTunes) while you can!

So, what is coming up? (more…)

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7 Tips to Help You Get the Sleep You Need

By Amanda Moritz, 3/13/2012 at 8:06 am

We’ve written about the importance of sleep and why sleeping helps us learn. We’ve given you (non-drug) tips on curing your insomnia. Now we are happy to share an article from The Psychology Today Blog. Sometimes, even if you know how much sleep you need, it’s hard to get it because you don’t fall asleep at the right time (usually too late). Below, you will find advice on how to get to bed on time so you can get up when you need to and still have gotten your 8 hours of Zs. (more…)

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Fatty Foods You SHOULD Eat to Fuel Your Brain

By Amanda Moritz, 3/12/2012 at 8:42 am

Walnuts are rich in omega-3s and even look like a brain!

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for our brain to work. These fatty acids build our neurons, and they make up the fat-rich cells that surround our neurons that help transmit signals–I’m talking glia, here, people. Omega-3s are concentrated in our brains’ gray matter, and gray matter can be thought of as “where learning happens” in our brains. Omega-3s have been linked to improved heart function, which leads to better circulation, which leads to more blood to the brain. Getting enough blood to your brain is necessary for thinking, concentrating, learning, and many more important brain functions. Additionally, These very good fats are also found in breast milk, so make sure you eat enough omega-3s when breast-feeding so your young one’s brain can develop fully!

Clearly, getting enough omega-3s in your system is very important. It turns out that our bodies cannot make omega-3s on their own, so the only way we can get them is by consuming foods containing them. So what foods should you eat? If you want to be more alert, reduce your risk for dementia, improve your memory, and increase your overall well-being, try these foods: (more…)

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