Two experiments use event-relative potential (ERP) and a modified word-face Stroop paradigm to explore the automatic processing level question mentioned above. Experiment 1 have 15 participants and chose 21 happy face pictures and 21 fear face pictures from CFPAS as the stimuli. And two Chinese words“Positive”and“Negative”were insert into the middle of each face to build two experiment conditions: the consistent condition (CC) means a happy (fear) face with the word of Positive (Negative) word; And the inconsistent condition (IC) means a happy (fear) face with the word of Negative (Positive). Participants were asked to recognize the Motivation dimension from the expression and try to ignore the valence word on the face. The outcome shows in the IC, the AC was lower, the RT was slower, and the amplitude of SP was more positive relative to the CC. Experiment 2 have 15 participants and use the
same stimulus as Experiment 1. And two Chinese words“Approach”and“Avoid”were insert into the middle of each face to build two experiment conditions: the consistent condition (CC) means a happy (fear) face with the word of Approach (Avoid); And the inconsistent condition (IC) means a happy (fear) face with the word of Avoid (Approach) word. Participants were asked to recognize the Valence dimension from the expression and try to ignore the motivation word on the face. The outcome shows in the IC, the RT was slower relative to the CC, not other significant effects were found in these experiments. These two experiments showed the Valence dimension have a relatively higher automatic processing level than Motivation dimension in the processing of a facial expression. Moreover, the former`s interference effect to the latter happen in the later period of the process.