  We address the problem of understanding the variable abundance of 3-node and
4-node subgraphs (motifs) in complex networks from a dynamical point of view.
As a criterion in the determination of the functional significance of a n-node
subgraph, we propose an analytic method to measure the stability of the
synchronous state (SSS) the subgraph displays. We show that, for undirected
graphs, the SSS is correlated with the relative abundance, while in directed
graphs the correlation exists only for some specific motifs.
