Preferences formed in childhood do affect romantic predilections in animals and humans as well. For example, adult male rats who were stimulated with a paintbrush to simulate maternal licking while exposed to a lemon scent during infancy ejaculate more quickly (presumably meaning that they are more excited) when paired with similarly scented females. Childhood play with peers also affects sexual arousal later—female rats that played with either almond- or lemon-scented female playmates as pups later preferred to mate with males with the familiar scent, rather than the unfamiliar one. The
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