In the first situation, the hypothesis suggests that as employees spend more hours on training programs, their performance ratings will increase. The independent variable is the number of hours spent on training programs, while the dependent variable is employees' performance ratings. In the second situation, the hypothesis proposes that as the amount of caffeine consumed increases, the time taken to complete a cognitive task will decrease. The independent variable is the amount of caffeine consumed, while the dependent variable is the time taken to complete the cognitive task.