Postnatal learning processes

Postnatal learning processes are also believed to be causally involved in the sexual orientation of some femme lesbians and some exclusive male homosexuals.15 But there is certainly no evidence that any form of sexual orientation is simply a matter of voluntary choice of a lifestyle. Homosexuality, like any sexual orientation, is not a lifestyle it s a sexuality. Some homosexuals lead a so-called homosexual lifestyle and some do not. 

The third set of variables lies in the postnatal environment. These include the physical environment (outdoors and in) and the social environment (family, peers, neighborhood, socioeconomic status, education, culture, and so on). Many of these variables affect the development of emotions, learning, language skills, and the processing of information by the brain—and can also affect gene expression via stress, infection, malnutrition, and toxins in air (for example, lead), water (for example, arsenic), and food (for example, mercury). Those effects that occur during early development can be extremely critical. 

None the less, infants are clearly capable of olfectory learning and memory formation beginning within the first hour after birth, and those memories may be retained over an interval of at least several days. Neurophysiological processes that occur naturally during parturition prepare the newborn in nt to become familiarized rapidly with salient odors in the postnatal environment. Neonates may be particularly sensitive to stimulus input during a brief period immediately after birth as a result of elevated NE levels and brain arousal at that time. 

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