Fig. 3.

Mean characteristic path length (CPL) of eight different cortical networks for the four diagnostic groups (see legend). The top row (a) shows CPL values for graphs based on absolute Pearson correlations, the middle row (b) shows CPL values for graphs based absolute Pearson correlations with mean cortical thickness controlled, and the bottom row (c) shows CPL values for graphs based on absolute partial correlations. Each column shows the results for graphs with different edge weights: binary edges (left column), correlation-weighted edges (middle column), and cortical thickness weighted edges (right column). The x-axis shows the sparsity level (S) at which the CPL values were compared across diagnostic groups. For each level of S shown, only edges that met the FDR correction of q < 0.05 were included, except where S = 17% for graphs shown in (b) and (c), where q < 0.1. Significant differences between the normal and AD-dementia groups are indicated as follows: ^#p < 0.1, * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005 (all p-values two-tailed).