The current study aimed to examine and clarify the conceptual relations among executive functioning, metacognition, and self-regulated learning. One hundred and seventeen undergraduate students enrolled in an educational psychology course completed direct and indirect measures of executive functioning, metacognition, and self-regulated learning. A mediation model specifying the relationships among the regulatory constructs was proposed and supported. In multiple linear regression analyses, executive functioning predicted metacognition (R² = .20) and self-regulated learning (R² = .29). Direct measures of inhibition and shifting accounted for a significant amount of the variance in metacognition (∆R² = .07) and self-regulated learning (∆R² = .06) beyond an indirect measure of executive functioning. Separate mediation analyses indicated the role of metacognition in mediating the relationship between executive functioning and self-regulated learning (β = .16, p < .001; 95% CI = [0.08, 0.27]) as well as between specific executive functions and self-regulated learning (β = .12, p < .05; 95% CI = [0.03, 0.21]), with large effect sizes obtained in both analyses (R² = .40 and .32, respectively). Obtained findings extend prior research conceptualizing the relations among the regulatory constructs and situate and specify executive functions as key processes, mediated by metacognition, that facilitate self-regulated learning.
