| Summary: | An advanced graph theoretical approach is introduced that enables a higher level of functional interpretation of samples of directed networks with identical fixed pairwise different vertex labels that are drawn from a particular population. Compared to the analysis of single networks, their investigation promises to yield more detailed information about the represented system. Often patterns of directed edges in sample element networks are too intractable for a direct evaluation and interpretation. The new approach addresses the problem of simplifying topological information and characterizes such a sample of networks by finding its locatable characteristic topological patterns. These patterns, essentially sample-specific network motifs with vertex labeling, might represent the essence of the intricate topological information contained in all sample element networks and provides as well a means of differentiating network samples. Central to the accurateness of this approach is the null model and its properties, which is needed to assign significance to topological patterns. As a proof of principle the proposed approach has been applied to the analysis of networks that represent brain connectivity before and during painful stimulation in patients with major depression and in healthy subjects. The accomplished reduction of topological information enables a cautious functional interpretation of the altered neuronal processing of pain in both groups.
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