Intact visual word priming in cocaine dependent subjects with and without cognitive deficit

1. The effects of semantic and repetition priming on reaction time were assessed in 27 recently abstinent cocaine and cocaine/alcohol dependent volunteers and 12 controls without substance abuse history. 2. The 27 cocaine dependent subjects were further divided into cognitively intact (N = 13) and moderate-to-severe cognitively impaired (N = 14) groups on the basis of neuropsychological testing. 3. Both cognitively intact and cognitively impaired cocaine dependent groups showed motor-response facilitation by semantic and repetition priming not significantly different from that of non-abusing controls. 4. It is proposed that both semantic and perceptually mediated visual word priming are implicit cognitive processes resilient to the sequelae of cocaine dependence which impact upon explicit cognitive systems.