Executive Functions of Six-Year-Old Boys with Normal Birth Weight and Gestational Age

Impaired fetal development, reflected by low birth weight or prematurity, predicts an increased risk for psychopathology, especially attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Such effects cut across the normal range of birth weight and gestation. Despite the strength of existing epidemiological data, cognitive pathways that link fetal development to mental health are largely unknown. In this study we examined the relation of birth weight (>2500 g) and gestational age (37–41 weeks) within the normal range with specific executive functions in 195 Singaporean six-year-old boys of Chinese ethnicity. Birth weight adjusted for gestational age was used as indicator of fetal growth while gestational age was indicative of fetal maturity. Linear regression revealed that increased fetal growth within the normal range is associated with an improved ability to learn rules during the intra/extra-dimensional shift task and to retain visual information for short period of time during the delayed matching to sample task. Moreover, faster and consistent reaction times during the stop-signal task were observed among boys born at term, but with higher gestational age. Hence, even among boys born at term with normal birth weight, variations in fetal growth and maturity showed distinct effects on specific executive functions

Performance Management Uses, Outcome Measures and Mechanisms-Based Explanations. The Case of the Judicial Sector

This paper chapter analyses the different meanings of the concept of performance management utilisation, using empirical evidence from the Italian judiciary system. Managerial and evaluation literature on the ‘uses’ of performance information suggests that each use is sustained by specific causal mechanisms, i.e. strategies of actors that can explain – in specific contexts – the reasons for the success of the performance measurement. Empirical evidences for this view are derived from two case studies involving offices of the Italian judicial sector. The judicial sector has been selected because it is at the centre of an interesting debate over the value of the paradigm shift from output to outcome measure