SpongeBob Square Pants! Monday's study showing that kids who watched the fast-paced SpongeBob cartoon fared worse on a series of mental tests gained broad publicity. The study compared 60 four-year-olds immediately after they (a) watched nine minutes of Sponge Bob, (b) watched nine minutes of PBS' Caillou, or (c) drew with crayons.

The children, recruited from middle- and upper-income households, fared worse on the tests after watching SpongeBob, which changed scenes every 11 seconds. The PBS show, by comparison, changed scenes every 34 seconds. The study had limitations, including that it only assessed mental sharpness immediately after the TV shows, and not over a prolonged period of time. But local media expert David Walsh said the results didn't surprise him, and that other research has verified that consumption of fast-paced media can have long-term implications for children's attention spans:

Note: this is an updated post. A reader had a great idea of showing the differences in cartoon speed and style, and asked if SpongeBob was really all that different from old WB cartoons. Take a look below after reading and judge for yourself. I always thought old cartoons moved pretty fast as well, but I think you'll be surprised!

The Pediatrics study, and an accompanying editorial, did a poor job advising parents what to do. The study only concluded that parents should "be aware" of the results. (Gee, thanks! Parents just learn that SpongeBob might be melting their kids' brains and they're told to be aware?!)

So I put the question to Walsh, who recently authored his latest book, Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids. If your kid is already watching a lot of SpongeBob or similar programs, what should you do?

Reduce exposure slowly, because cutting it off immediately will cause stress and make the show like "forbidden fruit" that kids want to see more, he replied. "I always tell parent to make kind of gradual switches and wean them off of SpongeBob and onto some other program."

Walsh, an advisor to PBS Kids, said PBS shows are great alternatives, because a stunning amount of child development research goes into them before they reach the airwaves. Of course, it's easier said than done to switch kids' TV tastes. By age 4, my kids thought they were too old for Caillou, a show about a preschool boy's everyday challenges. Walsh said that is a major challenge for PBS, to make its developmentally appropriate shows appealing to grade-school kids.

There's another perspective to all of this -- that inattention is just a sign of the times and that children are simply getting better at multitasking through media exposure. In the Pediatrics editorial, Dr. Dimitri Christakis of the Seattle Children's Research Institute dismissed that concept: