Evidence of negative cognitive effects has made the growth of television a popular explanation for trends such as the decline in average verbal SAT scores during the 1970s (Wirtz et al. 1977; Winn 2002) and the secular decline in verbal ability across cohorts (Glenn 1994). Given the important role that cognitive skills play in individual (Griliches and Mason 1972) and aggregate (Bishop 1989) labor market performance, understanding the cognitive ef- fects of television viewing may have significant implications for public policy and household behavior
