The flashlight-beam patterning means that neurons about 0.5 mm apart recurrently excite one another. This makes it likely that they will synchronize their firing, if otherwise active. But the bright rings will also cross at a third and fourth point to form a triangular array of synchronized neurons.

If many such triangular arrays form, the spatiotemporal firing pattern will exhibit repeats; the minimum replicable unit with no redundancy is a hexagon 0.5 mm across. Thus one can think of clones of movement commands forming a hexagonal mosaic, with alternative movements competing with one another for space in association cortex.

An animated supplement to William H. Calvin's THE CEREBRAL CODE.