Researchers have long been interested in the relation between emotion understanding and theory of mind. This study investigates a cue to mental states that has rarely been investigated: the dynamics of valenced emotional expressions. When the valence of a character's facial expression was stable between an expected and observed outcome, children (N = 122; M = 5.0 years) recovered the character's desires but did not consistently recover her beliefs. When the valence changed, older but not younger children recovered both the characters’ beliefs and desires. In contrast, adults jointly recovered agents’ beliefs and desires in all conditions. These results suggest that the ability to infer mental states from the dynamics of emotional expressions develops gradually through early and middle childhood.
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机译：长期以来，研究人员一直对情感理解与心理理论之间的关系感兴趣。这项研究调查了一种精神状态的线索，这种线索很少被调查：化合情感表达的动态。当角色的面部表情价在预期结果和观察到的结果之间稳定时，儿童（N = 122; M = 5.0岁）恢复了角色的欲望，但并没有持续恢复其信念。当化合价改变时，年龄较大但年龄较小的孩子恢复了角色的信念和欲望。相比之下，成年人可以在任何情况下共同恢复特工的信念和欲望。这些结果表明，从情绪表达动力学推断精神状态的能力在幼儿期和初中阶段逐渐发展。
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