[Relationship between competence and performance: resources regulation in high capacity]

The scientific concept of High Intellectual Ability (HIA) is expanded attending the question of discrepancy between the high cognitive potential and the low performance of some people with HIA. The study of the pathways and conditioning factors that lead to low performance is necessary in order to facilitate the development and optimal expression of high potential. The role of executive and metacognitive regulation of high intellectual resources is highlighted, in interaction with other endogenous and exogenous modulators. The aim of this work is to know if there is a relational model linking executive and metacognitive regulation, and perfectionism (as an endogenous modulator of HIA). The executive, metacognitive and perfectionism measures obtained in a sample of n = 140 schoolchildren, diagnosed as HIA, are statistically analyzed using Structural Equation Models. Two relational models are obtained: one indicating that executive function influences metacognition, and the other indicates that perfectionism influences executive functioning. The need for more concrete analyses of the direct, indirect or total influence among these regulation constructs is concluded and discussed, with derivations for the need of effective measures that guide the optimal expression of HIA, preserving personal well-being.