Summary.Twenty Nigerian Ibo children aged about 11 and 12 years, matched with a control group of the same age and number, were trained in classification, using a type of colour‐form‐size sorting test, and were tested on a transfer task of animal‐sorting. On being retested after training the experimental group showed significant improvement. No positive transfer was observed, however, on Kohs Blocks, which were administered as supplementary transfer task. The results indicate the need for a more careful taxonomy of tests of abstraction used in non‐Western c