**Examining the Dynamic Relationship between Executive Functions and Metacognition: Implications for Academic Achievement among University Students** **Introduction** Executive function (EF) refers to various mental abilities responsible for numerous cognitive tasks, such as attention, problem solving, inhibition, goal-oriented behaviour, working memory, and decision-making (Bell & Meza, 2019; Friedman & Miyake, 2017). It is of paramount importance to the diverse aspects of the daily lives of individuals. Prior studies have demonstrated its importance by highlighting that executive function affects the quality of psychological and physical health (Fogel, 2022; Frazier et al., 2022). Similarly, it also plays a major role in many disorders such as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and specific learning disorders (Costescu et al., 2023; Harkin et al., 2023; Sharfi et al., 2022; Townes, 2022). Although impairments in this function seriously affect many aspects of everyday life, it could be argued that the field of education is one of the most severely and adversely influenced by these deficits. During the educational period, individuals are required to use various abilities, such as organisation, working memory, planning, time management, inhibition, and goal-directed behaviour. Consequently, impaired executive function leads to unfavourable outcomes for the success and performance of individuals in their academic activities (Mariëtte et al., 2018). Hence, during the academic period, the extent to which individuals could use their executive functions significantly affects and shapes their future work, social lives, and habits. Correspondingly, a wide range of research has been carried out in this field until the present day. Previous research has demonstrated strong correlations between high academic success and executive functioning (Begum et al., 2021; Cheung & Chan, 2021; Howard & Vasseleu, 2020; Zorza et al., 2019). Accordingly, from a neuropsychological perspective, executive functioning is an important factor accounting for learning difficulties, academic success, and in-class performance (Borkowski et al., 2004). factor accounting for learning difficulties, academic success, and in-class performance (Borkowski et al., 2004). As first proposed by American Psychologist Flavell (1979), metacognition is a form of cognitive modelling that involves higher mental processing, described as “thinking about thinking”. Processes such as mental flexibility, judgement ability, decision making, self-regulation, and other behaviours are involved in metacognitive skills. Metacognition allows individuals to gain awareness regarding what they learn, know, and think, as well as the ability to regulate themselves and their activities in a constructive way. Individuals with high-level metacognitive abilities generally derive positive experiences from their daily lives using effective attentional and self-regulatory strategies and constructive practices (Rhodes, 2019). In contrast, low metacognitive skills are commonly associated with high rates of psychopathology and negative outcomes across a wide range of life domains. Existing research has frequently underlined the contribution of metacognitive skills to both learning and academic achievement (Dzinovic et al., 2019; Santangelo et al., 2021). A study conducted with university students revealed that students with higher metacognitive awareness had slightly higher GPAs than their counterparts (Ward & Butler, 2019). Moreover, metacognitive skills, especially problem-solving abilities, have been observed to contribute positively to learning competencies (Zhao et al., 2019). Additionally, a meta-analysis of 118 articles revealed that metacognition can predict academic achievement (Ohtani & Hisasaka, 2018). Furthermore, a study by Chevalier et al. (2017) found that university students with a history of reading problems were less successful in using metacognitive strategies in overall learning and reading tasks than those who did not. These results showcase the importance of employing metacognitive strategies in reading tasks as they may affect academic achievement. These collective findings emphasise the role of metacognitive skills and provide support for the idea that the effective use of metacognitive skills, especially metacognitive awareness, positively impact learning outcomes and academic achievement. These collective findings emphasise the role of metacognitive skills and provide support for the idea that the effective use of metacognitive skills, especially metacognitive awareness, positively impact learning outcomes and academic achievement. Given the wide range of processes involved, metacognition is of immense importance in the field of education, both in theoretical and practical terms. By allowing the individuals to self-organise and effectively manage high cognitive processes, it contributes significantly to the individual's academic self-confidence, time planning skills and ability to find appropriate strategies for themselves. Therefore, apart from executive functions, metacognition, also has the potential to affect the overall life quality and especially the professional trajectory of individuals (Fleur et al., 2021). Academic success is a critical factor in determining the future of university students, and understanding the factors that contribute to it can help improve educational outcomes and develop interventions to overcome the issues that it encompasses. To date, existing research in the literature has extensively examined the complex interplay between (1) executive functioning and academic achievement and (2) metacognition and academic achievement (see Ohtani & Hisasaka, 2018). However, there continues to be a substantial gap regarding the complex dynamic interaction among them (Wu & Was, 2023). This study examines the influence and relationship between executive functioning and metacognitive capacities on academic achievement by concentrating on a population of university students. **Objectives** The aim of this study is to explore how differences in individuals’ executive function and metacognitive abilities could be a leading factor for academic achievement among university students. Given the overwhelming wealth of evidence in the literature on the importance between executive functions, metacognition and academic achievement, complex dynamics regarding domains will be addressed through the following research questions: 1. *How do executive function and metacognition respectively predict GPA? To what extent do executive function and metacognitive skills overlap in predicting GPA?* 2. *Do executive functioning and metacognition have distinct contributions to GPA when they control for each other?* 3. *Do the relationships between executive functions and GPA differ across genders and ages?* 4. *Do the relationships between metacognitive skills and GPA differ across gender and age?* **Methods** All research data will be stored in the Open Science Framework (OSF) with the following link: https://osf.io/jv67y/. Furthermore, participants will be informed of their participation rights and the detailed description of the research by means of an informed consent just before starting the experiment, which will be a computerised task. In addition, an additional participant information sheet detailing the procedures of the study will be provided. *The participants* This study will be conducted with a moderate to large sample involving Spanish university students. Participants will be given informed consents with full details of the experiment and their confidentiality will be guaranteed. The students who confirm their assistance will receive extra participation points in the subject in which they were invited to participate (for their involvement in the study). Regardless of their diverse backgrounds, psychopathological history or any current conditions, age, or gender, all Spanish-speaking students will be included in the study to ensure a comprehensive representation in our study. There will not be any exclusion criteria introduced for the participation. *Research Instruments* Prior to the completion of the first task, participants will be asked to answer a short survey about their demographic information: age, gender, last educational level, average grade of the last semester and will be asked to self-report the existence of any diagnosed psychopathological conditions. As per academic performance, participants will be asked to disclose their grade point average (GPA). It is important to note that, with a maximum mean score of 10.00, no stipulated minimum value will be introduced as an eligibility criterion for participation which will be used as a measure for academic achievement. This research consists of two different stages: a questionnaire and two computerised tasks. The participants will first be presented the computerised tasks in a random order followed by the questionnaire. The first stage will involve three computerised tasks will be used to measure executive function. These tasks are Go-No Go Task (Donders, 1969) to measure inhibition, and The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST; (Grant & Berg, 1948) to analyse cognitive flexibility. The second stage will concentrate on the assessment of metacognition by using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI; Schraw & Dennison, 1994), which has been commonly employed in the literature for its assessment. As the original scale targets English-speaking participants, we will be employing the adapted version to Spanish, by using a validated Spanish version of MAI developed by González-Cabañes et al. (2022). This version of the scale will be evaluated by 2 native psychologists and one expert linguist, for ensuring the cultural appropriateness of MAI. During this phase, interrater agreement between these 3 professionals will be established. MAI ale is a 5-point scale with 52 questions comprising two indexes: knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition. When we look at the subscales, knowledge of cognition measures (1) declarative knowledge, (2) procedural knowledge and, (3) conceptual knowledge respectively. Regulation of cognition index has 5 subscales as (1) planning, (2) information management, (3) monitoring, (4) debugging, and (5) evaluation. Both indexes will be used for the measurements without omitting any subscale. *Statistical analysis* Firstly, the study investigates the autonomous predictive abilities of executive functioning and metacognition in relation to GPA. In this way, we aim to determine the individual effect of executive functions and metacognitive skills on academic achievement. At the same time, the extent to which executive functions and metacognition cooperatively predict GPA will be examined, as well as potential interdependencies or common variances in their contributions will be explored. That is, structural equation modelling will be used to comprehensively model the complex relationships between executive functions, metacognition, gender, age, and GPA as a statistical model. Using multiple regression analysis, we aim to reveal the differential effects of these cognitive domains and elucidate their singular role in predicting academic achievement. In addition, the interaction of gender and age demographic differences with these two metacognitions, executive functions and GPA will be examined through moderation analysis. **References** Begum, A. J., Sathishkumar, A., & Rahman, T. H. (2021). Executive Functioning Skills, Neurocognition, and Academic Achievement of UG Students. 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