This explorable illustrates the dynamics of a self-organizing map (SOM), specifically a neural network known as the Kohonen Map. The Kohonen map is a model for self-organization of biological neural networks and how the brain can learn to map signals from an input space, e.g. visual stimuli in the visual field, to a two dimensional layer of neurons, e.g. the visual cortex in the brain, in such a way that neighborhood properties in the stimulus space are conserved as best as possible: Neurons that are neighbors in the neural network should respond to stimuli that are also close in stimulus space.

This explorable illustrates one of the most basic mechanisms for spontaneous pattern formation: Local excitation and long range inhibition. This mechanism or similar ones are responsible for patterns observed in many natural systems, such as neural tissue, animal fur and spatial heterogeneity in social systems.