Metacognition and executive functioning as predictors of functional independence in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review with bibliometric mapping.

Authors

Daniel Landinez Martinez, Diana Marcela Montoya Londoño, Antonio Partida Gutierrez de Blume

Published in

Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition. Pages 1-36. Sep 04, 2026. Epub Sep 04, 2026.

Abstract

Functional independence in older adulthood requires cognitive capacity and the ability to monitor, regulate, and adapt behavior in everyday contexts. To synthesize evidence on associations between executive-function and metacognitive or self-regulatory processes and functional independence in cognitively healthy, community-dwelling older adults, and to use bibliometric mapping as a secondary method to examine whether these research traditions have developed in an integrated or fragmented manner. A PRISMA 2020 systematic review with secondary bibliometric mapping was conducted. Forty studies were charted; after an eligibility and measurement-classification re-audit, 30 were retained in the core synthesis. Study characteristics, constructs, outcomes, and assessment modalities were extracted. Five studies contributed executive-function evidence without a metacognitive or self-regulatory measure, 16 examined executive functioning with a metacognitive or self-regulatory indicator, and nine examined executive functioning alongside an adjacent functional-cognitive construct. No study examined a metacognitive or self-regulatory predictor without an executive-function measure. Executive-function measures were frequently associated with instrumental activities of daily living, functional capacity, everyday cognition, adherence, and simulated everyday-task outcomes. Metacognitive and self-regulatory evidence was smaller and more heterogeneous, involving self-appraisal, awareness, error monitoring, checking behavior, and strategy use. Evidence was predominantly cross-sectional and associative. Bibliometric mapping indicated partially separate intellectual traditions. Executive functioning is the more consistently studied correlate of functional independence in healthy aging. Metacognitive and self-regulatory processes may contribute to functional adaptation, but their independent contribution remains insufficiently established. Future longitudinal, experimental, and multimodal research should integrate executive-function assessment, direct metacognitive measures, contextual determinants, and everyday-life functional outcomes.

PMID:
42696375
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 05 Sep 2026.

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