Fidan Is Studying a Model of Obesity

Multiple Choice

Fidan is studying a model of obesity. For her experiment, Fidan uses three groups of 31 rats each that are given either (1) 24-hour access to high calorie treat food in addition to their normal chow, (2) restricted 8-hour access to high calorie treat food and 24-hour access to their normal chow, or (3) 24-hour access to only their normal chow. Every day, Fidan weighs the animals and carefully takes note of the amount and type of food each animal has consumed. At the end of the experiment, Fidan performs surgery on all the animals and notices that the animals that put on the most weight showed noticeable differences in their hypothalamus compared to the rest of the rats.
-What was the dependent variable in Fidan's experiment

A) The amount of time the rats had access to high-calorie treat food.
B) The type of food the rats consumed.
C) The group each rat belonged to.
D) The weight of the rats at the end of the experiment.