ABSTRACT
In the face of mounting support (on the part of academic writers, if not the general public) for an increased emphasis on visual media in primary and secondary education, this essay examines one of the major arguments accompanying this trend, namely, the idea that visual “literacy” (in the sense of fluency regarding the conventions of visual communication) leads to a more general enhancement of cognitive skills. The possibility that a specifically visual, TV-based educational program may have a broader, positive impact on the quality of thought is examined with regard to four areas of cognition: the formation of conceptual categories, analytic reasoning, spatial intelligence, and abstractive/analogical thinking.
