Abstract
The abstraction of prototypical information and the development of category breadth was investigated for categories defined by low- level distortions from the prototype or by a mixing of distortion levels. It was found that degree of positive transfer to new instances interacted with category size such that a mixing of distortions resulted in superior transfer for the categories defined by a larger number of stimuli; transfer was greater for the uniform- low condition only when the category was defined by 3 instances.