He his book, Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, author Steven Johnson examines the scientific research behind why watching certain television shows can increase your mental acuity. And we aren’t talking PBS documentaries here but crime dramas, spy stories and even reality shows. Especially beneficial are shows that include overlapping plot strands, develop a large number of characters and make make frequent use of flash-forwards and flash-backs. [via HubPages]

SEE THE EIGHT TV SHOWS MOST LIKELY TO MAKE YOU SMARTER