Editing Sexual stimulation (section)

===Olfactory===
Olfactory information is critical to human sexual behavior. One study investigating olfactory sexual stimulation found that heterosexual men experience sexual arousal in response to a female perfume. Individuals rated odourant stimulation and perceived sexual arousal. They also had [[Functional magnetic resonance imaging|functional MRI]] scans taken during the experiment. The results showed that olfactory stimulation with women's perfume produces activation of specific brain areas associated with sexual arousal in men.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Huh | first1 = J. | last2 = Park | first2 = K. | last3 = Hwang | first3 = I. S. | last4 = Jung | first4 = S. I. | last5 = Kim | first5 = H. J. | last6 = Chung | first6 = T. W. | last7 = Jeong | first7 = G. W. | year = 2008 | title = Brain activation areas of sexual arousal with olfactory stimulation in men: A preliminary study using functional MRI | url = http://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095(15)31972-X/fulltext | journal = The Journal of Sexual Medicine | volume = 5 | issue = 3| pages = 619–625 | doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007.00717.x| pmid = 18221282 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> Another study found that homosexual men displayed similar [[hypothalamus|hypothalamic]] activation to that of heterosexual women when smelling a testosterone derivate present in male sweat, suggesting that [[sexual orientation]] plays a role in how humans experience olfactory sexual stimulation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Savic | first1 = Ivanka | last2 = Berglund | first2 = Hans | last3 = Lindström | first3 = Per | year = 2005 | title = Brain response to putative pheromones in homosexual men | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 102 | issue = 20| pages = 67356–7361 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0407998102| pmid = 15883379 | pmc = 1129091 | bibcode = 2005PNAS..102.7356S | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Evolutionary analysis of sex differences in reproductive strategies can help explain the importance of smell in sexual arousal due to its link to immunological profile and offspring viability.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Rikowski | first1 = A. | last2 = Grammer | first2 = K. | year = 1999 | title = Human body odour, symmetry and attractiveness | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences | volume = 266 | issue = 1422| pages = 869–874 | doi=10.1098/rspb.1999.0717| pmid = 10380676 | pmc = 1689917 }}</ref> This is because olfactory cues may be able to trigger an [[incest]] avoidance mechanism by reflecting parts of an individual's genetic equipment. In one study, males rated visual and olfactory information as being equally important for selecting a lover, while females considered olfactory information to be the single most important variable in [[mate choice]]. Additionally, when considering sexual activity, females singled out [[Body odor|body odour]] from all other sensory experiences as most able to negatively affect desire.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Herz | first1 = R. S. | last2 = Cahill | first2 = E. D. | year = 1997 | title = Differential use of sensory information in sexual behavior as a function of gender | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225106584 | format = PDF | journal = Human Nature | volume = 8 | issue = 3| pages = 275–286 | doi=10.1007/bf02912495| pmid = 26196967 | s2cid = 29672935 }}</ref>