Figure 1. Prolonged transient patterns emerging from unbiased initial conditions in a bistable system.

(A) Schematic of transient boundaries observed in a two-state model in one-dimensional space. The boundary quickly forms and the tug-of-war persists for some time before one state wins over. (B) Schematic of transient patterning in a four-state model in two-dimensional space resulting from a tug-of-war initiated at time t₀. Patterns emerge after some time but high frequency modes quickly dissipate. Low frequency modes persist longer before one state wins over the space.