In an experiment, researchers exposed half of the participants to loud noise during a memory-encoding task. The room was quiet for the other half of the participants. Later, all participants were given a memory test and the number of correct items recalled was obtained for each participant. What is the independent variable?

the noise level during the encoding task

Explanation:

An independent variable in the context of an experiment is the part of an experiment that is being tested and does not depend on some other part of the experiment. Which in this case would be the noise level during the encoding task. That is because the noise level is the variable that is being changed for each group and does not depend on anything else, unlike the memory test which depends on the noise level.

answer dissenting;