Good morning everyone, According to Goodwin and Goodwin (2017), a psychological experiment requires defining independent variables, controlling extraneous variables, and assessing dependent variables. Independent variables are the experimental settings or comparisons over which the researcher completely controls. To manipulate independent variables, participants may be placed in different contexts, assigned different tasks, or given different instructions. Extraneous variables are aspects the researcher is not interested in, and failing to control them leads to a problem known as confounding. When there is a confound, the outcomes could be attributable to the independent or confounding variables. A breakdown by Anderson (2020) is as follows: Independent Variable (IV) - The experimenter manipulates the variable to determine if it influences the behaviour. Dependent Variable (DV) - is the behaviour that is measured to determine the effect of the independent variable. Confounding Variable - a variable that influences the study's outcomes. It affects the dependent variable; thus, you need to determine whether the effects are due to the independent variable or the confounding variable. Confounding variables affect the experiment inadvertently by influencing the independent variable. In the case of a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Training (MBCT) study with first responders suffering from anxiety and depression, the independent variable is the MBCT, the dependent variable is anxiety and depression, and a confounding variable may be anxiety medication that a participant's doctor had prescribed at the time of the study. The study's goal may be to determine the relationship between MBCT and its effect on anxiety and depression symptoms. One of my journal articles includes the participants being paid with gift cards. Can participants who receive gift cards or payments be considered a confounding variable