Abstract: Using Chinese single character words as materials,red as targets and green as distractors,with process dissociation procedure,the study examined directly the relationship between target activation/distractor inhibition and conscious/unconscious processes.The results showed:1.Identity of the Critical Words influenced not only the estimation of value Pc,but also that of value Pu.Both Pc and Pu decreased when the Critical Words worked as distractors,which meant making information unrelated decreased not only the degree with which conscious processes were involved,but also the degree with which unconscious processes were involved;2.The level of processing(LoP)affected Pc,but not Pu when the Critical Words worked as targets.However,LoP didn′t affect Pc and Pu when the Critical Words worked as distractors.Therefore,whether LoP could dissociate conscious and unconscious processes depended on the identity of the Critical Words or whether information was related.

Key words: target activation, distractor inhibition, positive and negative priming, proportion effect, process dissociation procedure