Male rats were individually permitted to mate with either 1 female or different female partners until a criterion of sexual exhaustion in the male was met. Following exhaustion, the Ss were subgrouped and individually permitted to resume mating with a different female which had or had not mated recently. Exhausted males showed rapid and vigorous renewal of mating when different female partners which had not mated recently were introduced; with female partners which had mated recently, however, renewed performance was either completely lacking or very poor. The findings emphasize the necessity for careful consideration of incentive stimuli in studies of the arousal and satiation of sexual activity.(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)