Differential association of HIV-related neuropsychological impairment with semantic versus repetition priming.

There is evidence that the facilitating effects of stimulus repetition (repetition or identity priming) are mediated by visuoperceptual functions local to extrastriate cortex. Semantic or verbal-associative priming, on the other hand, is believed to be a function of more anterior brain systems. The present study finds evidence for disrupted semantic priming with intact repetition priming in a cognitively impaired HIV+ sample. These results are consistent with recent brain-imaging evidence for a subcortical and white-matter locus for HIV associated neuropathology resulting in effects on subcortical-frontal systems.