Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) Practice Exam 2025 - Free CAT4 Practice Questions and Study Guide

The concept of an extraneous variable refers to any element that can influence the outcome of an experiment but is not the primary focus of the research question. In the context of the phonemic restoration effect, an extraneous cough represents an irrelevant factor that could disrupt the clarity of the auditory stimuli being presented to participants. Such a cough could interfere with the listeners’ ability to perceive the speech sounds accurately, thereby affecting their responses related to the phonemic restoration effect itself.

While other options may also introduce variables impacting the study, a cough, particularly when unexpected, stands out as it is a random and unplanned auditory distraction that could directly interfere with participants' attention and perception of the speech being tested. The variation in accents or the presence of a hidden microphone do not inherently disrupt the speech signals in the same way, and an unexpected loud noise could be seen more as a thematic component than a consistent extraneous variable impacting all participants uniformly throughout the experiment.