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The metacognitive model of psychological disorders describes self-regulation within a hierarchical dynamic interplay between two distinct systems of cognition: a metacognitive control system and a cognitive system. In this model, metacognitive biases give rise to the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS), a pattern of perseverative thinking and maladaptive coping that sustains emotional distress. Among these biases, metacognitive knowledge, including individuals' declarative beliefs about their cognitive processes, plays a particularly influential role. Associations between metacognitive beliefs, CAS strategies, and emotional symptoms are well documented, but most studies have relied on cross-sectional designs or longitudinal assessments with limited temporal resolution, restricting examination of short-term dynamic processes central to the model. The present study employed an intensive longitudinal design with twice-daily assessments over 30 days in a sample of 171 adults, allowing for examination of within-person contemporaneous and short-term prospective hypothesised associations specified by the metacognitive model. Within-person analyses demonstrated contemporaneous positive associations between metacognitive beliefs, CAS, and emotional symptoms. In addition, increases in morning metacognitive beliefs prospectively predicted increases in evening CAS engagement. CAS strategies were strongly positively associated with same-day symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the association between morning metacognitive beliefs and evening symptoms was attenuated when evening CAS was controlled for. The results align with key hypotheses of the metacognitive model and are consistent with the proposed role of metacognitive beliefs as an underlying influence on self-regulatory strategies and emotional distress symptoms at the within-person level.