ABSTRACT: A subliminal priming procedure developed by the authors and colleagues produces a robust but ephemeral (fraction-of-a-second) subliminal priming effect. This method also reveals unconscious cognition to be very limited in analytic capability. Other procedures have demonstrated considerably longer-lasting (minutes or more) subliminal priming effects that appear also to involve more complex cognitive analysis of subliminal stimuli. One or more of several procedural differences may ultimately explain the paradox created by the juxtaposition of these two types of findings. In addition to summarizing some of the procedural variations that may ultimately prove critical, this presentation describes (a) the methods that very reliably produce the first (ephemeral) type of effect and (b) some of the findings that reveal this effect to involve very limited cognitive analysis.