This article presents a new method that can compare lexical priming (word–word) and
sentential priming (sentence–word) directly within a single paradigm. We show that it can
be used to address modular theories of word comprehension, which propose that the effects of
sentence context occur after lexical access has taken place. Although lexical priming and
sentential priming each occur very quickly in time, there should be a brief time window in which
the former is present but the latter is absent. Lexical and sentential priming of unambiguous words
were evaluated together, in competing and converging combinations, using time windows
designed to detect an early stage where lexical priming is observed but sentential priming is not.
Related and unrelated word pairs were presented visually, in rapid succession, within auditory
sentence contexts that were either compatible or incompatible with the target (the second word in
each pair). In lexical decision, the additive effects of lexical priming and sentential priming were
present under all temporal conditions, although the latter was always substantially larger. In
cross-modal naming, sentential priming was present in all temporal conditions; lexical priming was
more fragile, interacting with timing and sentential congruence. No evidence was found for a
stage in which lexical priming is present but sentential priming is absent – a finding that is
difficult to reconcile with two-stage models of lexical versus sentential priming. We conclude that
sentential context operates very early in the process of word recognition, and that it can interact
with lexical priming at the earliest time window.