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.