Results of the on-line survey of almost 30,000 people, conducted as part of Australia's science week, also found people who read fiction had better memories than those who don't, while heavy drinkers found it more difficult to recall names.
But neuro-psychologist Nancy Pachana said television was not necessarily bad for memory, with wider health and diet and an active lifestyle more crucial to a good memory.
"Your memory is dependent on good health and good mental health," Pachana, from the University of Queensland's school of psychology, told Reuters on Monday.
Dubbed the National Memory Test, the quiz attracted 29,500 people who were tested on tasks such as remembering a shopping list, recalling names, faces and occupations, long-term recall and spotting differences between two photographs.
Those who took part in the test were asked to fill in a survey on a range of habits, such as alcohol consumption, television viewing and reading habits.
The results found no differences between men and women, with the same scores for both groups on all the tasks. But it found television viewing had the main impact on results.
"Turn off the box, or at least don't view too much of it," the survey results said, adding those who watched less than one hour a day performed better at all memory tasks".
Those who drank less than two alcoholic drinks a day performed better at all memory tasks. Continued...
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